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JESUIT JUGGLING. 



FORTY 



POPISH FRAUDS 



DETECTED AND DISCLOSED. 



BY RICHARD BAXTER, 

AUTHOR or TBB SAINT'S ETERLASTINO RUT. 



FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, 

WITB AK 

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 



" I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of 
the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of th« mouth* 
of the false prophet ; for they are the spirits of devils, which go 
forth unto the whole world." — John. 



NEW- YORK: 

CRAIGHEAD & ALLEN, 

H. GRIFFIN & CO., EZRA COLLIER, HOWE & BATES. 
BOSTON,^-GOULD, KENDALL & LINCOLN. 

PITTSBURG, R. PATTERSON. 

CINCININATI,— COREY & WEBSTER. 

1835. 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1835, 
in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of New- York. 




CRAICRIAD AND ALLIN, PmiNTIRSy 359 BRGOMI-ST, N. T. 




• ■ • •* 

• • • 

• •• • • 

• • •• 

• • • • 



^ ■• • ••• • « •• 



• \ • • • 

'0 m • • • • 

2 • • • • 

• • ■ •• • 

* • • • • 



THIS VOLUME, 

WHICH DISCLOSES THE 

JUGGLING OF JESUITS, 

BY RICHARD BAXTER ; 
**AND BT IT, HE BEING DEAD TET BPEAKETU:*' 
IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED TO 

ALL JUNIOR THEOLOGIANS; 

WHO ALREADY ARE CONSECRATED 

TO THE . 
" JdimSTRY OF RECOJrCILMTIOJr,'' 
OR WHO ARE PREPARING 
^* EARNESTLY TO CONTEND FOR 

THE FAITH 

WHICH WAS ONCE DELIVERED TO THE SAINTS/ 
WITH DEYOUT SOLICITUDE, 

THAT THEY MAY NOT " FIGHT 

THE DRAGON; 

AND THE BEAST; 

AND THE FALSE PROPHET ; 

AS ONE WHO BEATETH THE AIR," 

BUT THAT THEY MAY BE 

**MORE THAN 

CONQUERORS 

THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US ! " 

New- York, October 12, 1835. 



»9 



INDEX 



Imtroductort Address, 
Kpistlb Dbdicatort, 

PREFACB, 

Adoration of Angels, 

Albigenses, 

Allowance denied, 

Ambiguity of Romanists, 

Arguments against Popery, 

Baptism, Regeneration, 

Belief of the Church, 

Belief of the Truth, 

Beza, 

Bohemians, 

Boy of Bilson, 



PagB 
7 

S5 

33 

164 

310 

56 

109 



Bod of oontTOTeny, 
Equivocation of Papists, 
Enrors in faith overthrow 
Popery, 
I IV. 






75 



Eugenius IV. Pope, 
Evangelical Ministiy, 
Evidence of Scripture, 
49|Evidence of the senses, 
1272|Extirpation of heretics, 
161iPaith', love and obedience, 
363 False allegations of Jesuits, 
196iFal8e doctrines of Roman- 
310| ism, 
184| False interpretations, 



SOS 



Brothels licensed at Rome, 218,False miracles, 



Calumnies on Protestant 
Ministeis, 

Calumny of Papists, 

Calvin, 

Canonized Saints, 

Catholic Church and the 
Popedom contrasted, 

Celibacy of PriPSts, 

Character of Popes, 

Character of Rome, 

Christian Profession, 

Church of Rome ceased. 

Concubines of Priests, 

Continuance of Popery, 

Corporeal presence ofChrist 
in the mass. 

Corruptions of Authors, 

Council of Lyons, 

Controversies of Roman 
Priests, 

Crimes of Popes, 

Decision of Controversies, 

Denial of Faith, 

Denial of Marriage, 

Despotism of Popery, 

Divisions in the Popedom, 

Detection of Jesuits, 

Dispensation for oaths. 

Dispensations for conceal- 
ment, 

Diversity of opinion, 1 52, 280 

Divisions in the Popedom, 66 

Doctrines contrary to Scrip- 
ture, 76 



69 

66 

S65 

869 

867 
171 
184 
867 



jFasting among Papists, 
200|For£ivenes8 of Sin by Rom- 

1821 "ish Priests, 273 

191 Fraudulent divisions, 895 

213 Fri irs and Monks, 881 

[General councils, 828 

129 Godly men net Papists, 49 

222 Head of the church, 129 

63 Henry IV. of France, 318 

221 Hugo^s account of Lyons, 880 

263 Huguenots, 310 

68 Human depravity encour- 

225i aged by Roman Priestti, 861 



236 Ignorance invincible, 

Image worship, 
27 1'Tmpei faction of works, 
178,Iraplicit faith, 
220: Infidel Popes, 

Interpretation of Scripture, 
200 Invocation of Saints, 



219 
107 
275 
273 
284 
66 
300 
267 

297 



Irish Massacre, 
Jansenists and Jesuits, 
Jesuit doctrines, / 

Jesuit principles, 
Jesuit prosclytism, 
Jesuit reproaches, 
John XII. Pope, 
John XXIII. Pope, 
Judge of controversies, 
Julius III. Pope, 
Justification by faith. 
Law of Chjist, 
Legends, 
Lather, 



855 

168 

265 

859 

69 

850 

163 

310 

95 

868 

95 

302 

198 

62 

61 

81 

880 

865 

889 

180 

188 






INDEX. 



Lvonff, 820 

Bussacre of Haguenots, 310 

Mental reservation, 898 

Mefitorius good works, 878 

Miracles, 180, 184 

MoDks and Friars, 981 

Murder of Governors, 

Mystery of Jesuitism, 

Novel opinions, 

Novelty of Popish corrup- 
tions, 

Novelty of Protestantism, 

Nuns, 

Oaths derided, 

OSiths nullifiea. 

Opinions ot councils, 

Opus operatum, 

Original sin, 

'Papal artifices, 

Papal decretals. 

Papal inuovations^ 

Papal sovereignty, 

Papal unity, 

Pardon of sin. 

Pastoral authority, 

Paul n. Pope, 

Perjury, 

Persecution, 

Personal holiness, 

Feter not Vicar of Christ, 

plus I[. Pope, 

Popery contrary to the 
senses. 

Popery contrary to unity, 

Popery is antichrisfian. 

Popery past amendment, 

Popes are antichrist. 

Popish ceremonies. 

Popish concealment, 

Po|nsh confusion. 

Popish deceitfulness. 

Popish forgeries. 

Popish perjury, 

Popish sanctity. 

Popish slaughters. 

Perish succession a novelty, 153 

Popish treason, 303 

Popish unity, 64 

Prayers to the dead, 163 



295 
57 
234 
131 
89 
266 
266 
219 
299 
308 
266 
891 
219 

69 
45 
248 
312 
288 
225 
297 
116 
187 
178 
303 
210 
308 



Prayins for the dead, 164 

Pretended Miracles, 184 

Priestly celibacy, 822 

Principles of faith, 100 

Principles of Papist s^ 78 

Prohibition of the Scnptures, 864 
Proofs of Papists, 78 

Protestant divisions, 89 

Purgatory, 266 

Renunciation of Christian 

love, 55 

Richlieu'scatalogue of errors, 870 
Roman Hierarchy no part 

of the true cnurch, 
Roman Saints, 
Romish ancestors, 
Romish legends. 



135 
867 
282 
180 
264 
132 
67 
216 
855 
131 
305 
265 
249 
203 
142 
180 
120 
198 
251 
135 



Schism, 

Schisms among Papists, 

Simony of Popes, 

Sins of ignorance. 

Sovereignty of the Pope, 

Spanish armada, 

Spiritual worship. 

Succession of doctrines, 

Succession of ministers, 

Succession of Popes, 

Thecla's miracles. 

Tradition, 

Translations of the Bible, 

Transubstantiation, 

Uncertainty of Romanism, 

Uncharitableness of Popery, 252 

Uncleanness sanctioned by 

Popery, 225 

Unfair disputants, 293 

Ungodly Popes, 215 

Unholiness of Rome, 60 

Unmarried Priests, 221 

Veneration of relics, 166 

Venial sins, 264 

Vices of Romish Priests, 220 
Vizors of Jesuits, 297 

Waldenses, 310 

Wealth of convents, 202 

Wicked men not Christian 

believers, 275 

WUliam Peny, 184 



ADDRESS ; 

ffO THE MINISTERS, OFFICERS, AND MEMBERS 

OF ALL THE PROTESTANT CHVRCHE8 

IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The rapid increase of the Papal Apostacy, and of 
tlie principles of Jesuitism, in our Republic, is the most 
astonishing modern development of *' the Mystery of 
Iniquity." Viewed in reference only to civil society, 
nothing can be more contradictory to all reasonable 
anticipation, than that Popery should have been able 
to force an admission into our community; much less 
that it should have been acceptable to American Citi- 
zens. Our whole national polity is so widely severed 
from the entire system of Romanism, under every pos- 
sible modification, that the correct motives, and the true 
causes, should be ascertained and specified, for that 
astounding aberration from rectitude, self-interest and 
decorum, the existence of which, the present appalling 
predominance of Popery, and the evident extending 
sway of the Roman PontifiT throughout our land, so 
unequivocally shows. 

The inquiry is often propounded — ^how can the ex- 
traordinary spread of Popery, and the manifest multi- 
plication of the Papists be rationally accounted for in 
tne present state of our country ? It is often said in 
reply, that the increase of Papal vassals in the United 
States, results entirely from foreign immigration, and 
the expenditure of European money. Admit that the 
former of those causes augments the number of Roman 
devotees ; and that the latter enable;8 the Jesuits to erect 
male and female convents, and seminaries — ^neverthe- 
less both do not exhibit the whole existing relative 



Viii INTRODUCTORY ADDRK88. 

position of the Pontifical authority in our confede* 
rated republics. 

Two anomalous facts undeniably declare, that other 
causes are in operation which give life and encourage- 
ment to the efforts that Roman Priests and disguised 
Jesuits make to subjugate these States to the Italian 
Pontiff. Neither the crowds of Papists who are con- 
stantly arriving, nor the sums of money which are 
regularly transmitted from Europe, at all account for 
the peculiar favor with which Romanism is regarded, 
and the special solicitude which so many citizens ex- 
emplify to propitiate its priests. Nor do those princi- 
ples afford any plausible solution of another mysterious 
circumstance ; that the whole body of American citi- 
zens are manifestly imbued with an overpowering dread 
of the malign influence, and appalling machinations of 
the Papists. 

There has been a general neglect of that department 
of ecclesiastical literature which comprises the history 
of the Christian church, and especially of that portion of 
it which appertains to the Papal hierarchy. Except in 
a few more prominent stations. Popery was almost un- 
known in the United States, until subsequent to our 
last contest with Britain ; nor had its progress attracted 
any marked interest, until about six years ago, it was 
first proposed, that an attempt should be made to direct 
the attention of the Protestant churches to the charac- 
ter, wiles and pernicious acts of the grand apostate ene- 
my of the kingdom of God. From that cause, the re- 
cent polemical discussions concerning the "lying won- 
ders and strong delusion" of Pontifical Rome have 
either been disregarded or opposed ; and there is an 
almost universal dearth of information respecting the 
Scriptural prophecies and delineations of that enemy of 
V our Lord, and of his Christ," who is generically de- 



INTEOPUCTOET iJODEBSS. IX 

nominated " the Man of sin ;" the *' scarlet colored 
Beast full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads 
and ten horns" — and " Mystery, Babylon the great ; 
Mother of Harlots and the abominations of the earth." 

It is also not a little perplexing, that the Apocalypse, 
to the reading and hearing of the words of which book 
alone of the sacred canon, a unique blessing is attached 
by the " Faithful Witness, bnd prince of the kings of 
the earth" — the Apocalypse, or the revelation of John is 
&r less studied in its connection with the past annals 
of the Christian church, than any other portion of " the 
oracles of God." Hence, there is an almost universal 
ignorance or misconception of the genuine attributes 
and ungodly proceedings of the Romish " seducing 
spirits, and false teachers, who speak lies in hypocrisy." 

The predominating sensibility throughout the Amer- 
ican Protestant churches is an undefinable dr«ad of the 
Pope^s vassals who are domiciliated among us. From 
which cause, public controverted discussions of the dog- 
mas, superstitions, frauds, and corruptions of Popery 
and Jesuitism are sternly counteracted. Publications 
both in the form of volumes and periodicals are slighted 
and decried. Houses of prayer are premptorily refused 
for the purpose of preaching the Gospel of Christ in 
illustration of Scriptural predictions — and not only is 
every effort to arouse the slumbering disciples repelled; 
but those Watchmen, who ** see the sword coming upon 
the land, and blow the trumpet to warn the people," 
are censured and denounced, as if they were disturbers 
of the public peace. 

This is not the work of our Romish inveterate ad- 
versaries. Having latterly discovered that their scorn- 
ful superstition oi Protestants excited both disgust and 
alarm, the Jesuits now have become comparatively 
lamb-like, and ** beguile with enticing words." They 



X INTRODUCTORY ADDRBtt. 

perceive that the cause of their foreign despot, the Ro- 
man Pontiff, is more efficiently promoted in this tepuhlic, 
hy their deceptions than hy their menaces ; and through 
their covert artifices, than with open assault. The com- 
hined apathy and opposition of Protestant Ministers 
and other influential professed adherents of the Refor- 
mation are consolidating the Papal system, and facili- 
tate its enlargement and sway throughout the United 
States, far more than all the priest-ridden multitudes, 
who are transported from Europe; and all the treas- 
ures which pontifical amhition and ignorant higotry 
can squander, upon the marvellous design to suhjugate 
the minds and hearts, the hodies and souls of American 
citizens to the^ 'accursed iron yoke of Pope Gregory. 
Whence does this slavish fear of the Papists eman- 
ate? There is a deep-rooted impression that" the vas- 
sals of Rome are a turhulent, lawless, and ferocious 
confederacy, who are impelled hy an unpricipled priest- 
hood. What are the Jesuits and Dominicans ? Men 
who know no authority hut the supreme pontifical man- 
date ; who are united to mankind hy none of the nat- 
ural honds of relationship ; who have no motive of ac- 
tion hut personal indulgence, and the aggrandizement 
of their craft; and who heing exempt from all govern- 
ment, except that of their ecclesiastical superiors, and 
having no permanent residence, hecause they are al- 
ways suhject to the order of removal from their prelat- 
ical master ; constantly, and in every place, are the 
enemies of all that portion of the human family who 
will not suhmit to their infernal despotism. Therefore, 
timid Protestants conclude, that it is preferahle not to 
irritate the Beast, lest they should feel the compound 
anguish arising from the Bear's gripe, and the Lion's 
mouth, inflicted with leopard-like suddenness and fero- 
city. Baxter has luminously depicted that absurdity. 



INTEOPVCTOET ADDEBSf. Xl 



" Some think that it is the safest way to please the Pope 
and Jesuits; and so will be Papists/' or support their 
cause, " on the same terms that some of the Indians 
worship the devil, because he is so naught, that he may 
not hurt them." If we reflect upon the pi'esent situa- 
tion of Jesuitism in this republic, it is scarcely credible, 
that the revered author of the *' Juggling of Jesuits,'^ 
one hundred and eighty years ago could have so pre- 
cisely described existing realities. Vast numbers of 
Protestants, act upon the same principle, as the man 
who bowed to the images of Jupiter and Satan. When 
he was reproved for his infatuation ; be retorted ; " It 
is impossible to know what may happen, or where we 
may go ; so it is best to have friends in every place." 

But who can estimate the mischiefs that follow from 
the large donations which are made not only by merely 
nominal Protestants, but also by actual members of the 
Reformed churches, towards the erection of those idol- 
atrous temples where the Romish superstitious cere- 
monial is performed ? In many places throughout our 
land, the sites of the edifices or materials for the erec- 
tion of them, or money to pay the mechanics, have 
been profusely lavished by the -avowed followers of 
Christ, to complete Mass houses and Jesuit male and 
female convents. To admit that those donors thus be- 
stowed their gifts from a profound non-acquaintance 
with J*opery is an impeachment of their rationality; 
and yet to suppose that they have thrown away their 
superfluous wealth from a predilection for Romanism, 
or from a supposition that it is Christianity, altogether 
makes void their sincerity. Whatever may be the 
cause, the effects are most pernicious. The energies 
of the Protestant champions are enfeebled, and the 
power of the Roman Priests is invigorated and be- 
f-omes more extensive and unshaken. 



ZU INTRODVCTORT ADBRSff. 

Since the commencement of the more direct " war 
upon the Beast," in America, nearly six years have 
passed away ; and two facts have been elicited from the 
occurrences which have transpired. The vast majority 
of American citizens, and even of American christians 
are nearly altogether ignorant of Popery — and a spuri- 
ous liberalism prevails throughout our country ; which 
unfolds itself nearly in our Lord's graphical descrip- 
tion of the ancient Jewish blind guides — " who strained 
at a gnat and swallowed a camel." 

It is demonstrable, that each of those principles, and 
especially both them conjoined, must have a decisively 
injurious tendency upon the churches of Christ. Po- 
pery, through their joint operation, is considered to be 
either harmless and so may be tolerated without oppo- 
sition ; or it is viewed as a species of modified Christi- 
anity, which demands our occasional conformity with 
its principles and ritual. Such a contradictory inter- 
pretation of Scripture can arise only from entire igno- 
rance of the tenth, and the subsequent chapters of the 
Apocalypse. However incompetent through our finite 
judgments, we may be to determine the times and sea- 
sons, and hIso some of the prophetical figures, with 
the application of them ; yet one thing is certain as de- 
rived from the whole tenor of the sacred volume; 
that idolatry is a crime most abhorent to Jehovah ; that 
the system of Popery is' doomed by God to utter de- 
struction ; and that all Papists being idolaters, unless 
they come out of Babylon the Great, will be " partakers 
of her sins, and will receive of her plagues." 

The erroneous judgment that is formed of the genuine 
attributes of Romanism is both the cause anS the effect 
of that false charity which urges so many of our citi- 
zens to look with complacency upon that antichristian 
system, and to consider it on account of its fraudulent 



• • » 



appellative, as an emanation from " the glorious Gospel 
of the ever blessed God." 

The same combined delusion and fondness for its 
pageantry, its music, its ornaments, and its shows, 
actuate that resistance which is so general, and so con- 
tinuously displayed, to the use of evangelical means 
for the overthrow of Popery. Indeed it seems to be 
entirely forgotten, by almost all orders of people both 
within the church, and in the world ; that ** the work- 
ing of Satan" is a most alarming curse to every nation 
who tolerate and succumb to it ; and that ** the testi- 
mony of Jesus which is the spirit of prophecy" has dis- 
tinctly foretold that the admission and progress of ** the 
mystery of iniquity" among any community is a deci- 
sive expression of the displeasure of Jehovah, designed 
by hiiii as a punishment for their transgressions and 
their sins. Thus the Apostle Paul, 2 Thessalonians, 
2: 10 — 12; emphatically declares — *• They received 
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. For 
this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that 
they should believe the lib; that they all may be 
damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure 
in unrighteousness." 

This reflection is peculiarly impressive, if considered 
in connection with the retributive dispensations of the 
Omnipotent Governor. We have always boasted of 
the unequalled illumination and freedom which over- 
spread our country ; and the questions instantly arise ; 
has that light been duly improved ? has that liberty 
been used for evangelical objects, and according to di- 
vine prescrijftions ? 

Reflect upon the contrast. Popery is a system of 
darkness and slavery, mental, bodily and spiritual No- 
thing mor^ directly at the antipodes to all our republi- 

2 



ZIV INTRODUCTORY ADDRXSt?. 

I 

can civic theories in legislation and political economy 
can possibly be imagined, tban4he dogmas, injunctions 
and appointments of the Court of Rome, exclusive ol 
their total contradiction to Christianity ; and yet that 
" Son of Perdition,^^ who has withered the comforts, 
blasted the prosperity, promoted the contentions, extin- 
guished the improvements, polluted with blood, and be- 
cause it is a ceaseless God-robber, Malachi 3 : 8, 9 ; 
has "cursed with a curse," during the last twelve hun- 
dred years, every one of the ten kingdoms of the Beast, 
is nov nourished in this country as if he were '* the 
Friend of sinners, and the Prince of Peace." 

Those irreconcilable contradictions between all that 
Americans exult in, of the rights of conscience, and civil 
liberty, when contrasted with the gloom and vassalage 
of the Papacy, combine the most intensely exciting in- 
quiries in reference to the prospective advances of the 
pontifical predominance throughout our land. Here 
we have a fact, which in its primary aspect appears to 
be utterly inexplicable — that men who are sensitive 
beyond description to the least apparent infringement 
of their privileges by their own elected official person- 
ages ;' at the same time deliberately choose and obsti- 
nately encourage the grasping usurpations of a foreign 
despotic potentate; whose boundless arrogance claims 
the illimitable control of all the affairs of every indi- 
vidual not only during his earthly pilgrimage, but 
throughout eternal ages ; and also assumes to determine 
and regulate not merely his own forced and voluntary 
minions, but the concerns of all the tribes of mankind, 
without a murmur of resistance, and forever. 

Whether the supreme and all righteous arbiter of 
human transactions would alarm us by the fearful inti- 
mation that he can permit men voluntarily so to blind 
themselves, thait they will aid the tyrant to forge the 



lirrRODTrCTORY 1DBRXS8. IV 

tliains which shall fetter themselves, and huild the pri- 
son for their own incarceration, and manufacture the 
scourges with which themselves shall be lacerated ; is 
a topic which' demands serious investigation, and may 
properly excite penitent humility. The signs of the 
times are full of melancholy portents for the American 
churches ; and that light of which in one aspect we 
have boasted, and in another, endeavored to extinguish, 
is rapidly becoming- obscured by the smoke of the bot- 
tomless pit : and that liberty which has been so per- 
verted into licentiousness on one side, and been so 
grievously despoiled on the other, seems to be gradu- 
ally transforming into the feTidal bondage of the dark 
ages, when a Monk's cowl was the highest object of 
reverence, and a Friar's approbation was the most 
richly valued possession. 

If we were asked for an example of human depra- 
vity which should be too palpable to admit either of 
denial or proof, we would adduce the present condi- 
tion of Popery in the United States. No other reason 
can be assigned for the progress which it has made, 
and the cordiality with which it has been received; 
than the sanction which indirectly by example, and im- 
mediately by its accommodating doctrines and license, 
that "all deceivableness of unrighteousness" imparts 
to every unhallowed indulgence. Popery is silently 
but gradually undermining all the moral principles of 
our people. " The leaven, the doctrine of the Phari- 
sees and of the Sadducees" almost imperceptibly, except 
unto a very perspicacious observer, is embittering and 
corrupting our whole code of ethics, both theoretical and 
in practice. 

Examine three facts in connexion with the fourth, 
seventh, and ninth commandments. What has been the 
primei cause of that vast addition to the ^bbath break- 



Xvi INTBODVeTORY ADDRE09. 

ing which in oqt large cities especially has transform- 
ed the latter half of the Lord's day into one unrestricted 
scene of sensual revelry. What are the Sunday eve- 
ning ** Sacred Concerts," as they are called, but an ex- 
cuse for the continued perpetration of the regular disso- 
luteness of the other six days, with the scene and place 
only shifted from the seductive theatre to the fascinating 
garden. This is a master-piece of satan ; to gild over, 
sabbath breaking with a pretended sacred concert ; as 
if any thing could be sacred, where theatrical profli- 
gates perform, and notorious ** lovers of pleasure" re- 
sort. But it is the genuine effect of Popery. The 
Papist's sabbath ends as soon as mass is closed ; and 
then every species of inordinate gratification may be 
indulged with impunity. The desecration of the Lord's 
day is one of the indelible and most obvious features of 
the Popedom ; and as the natural and inevitable conse- 
quence, infidelity, and all diversified ungodliness with 
their ineffable evils speedily overflow the land. It being 
also proper to be remembered, that this dishonor of the 
Lord's day, so far from being condemned by the Papal 
creed, is an essential ingredient in their system, and 
from their superstitions inseparable. 

The transgression of the seventh commandment is 
. indissolubly conjoined with Popery. That character- 
istic of the Romish apostacy is declared by both the 
Apostles Paul and John, to be an infallible mark of the 
mystical Babylon ; and according to the testimony of 
the Papal historians, the Scriptural delineations are 
most minutely accurate. That the various crimes and 
the scandalous disorders, which are implied in the 
Lord's mandate, are increasing not only in frequency, 
but alao in openness, and likewise in aggravated enor- 
mity, is a fact which is so obvious, that alas! it requires 
no evidence to verify its melancholy trutji. Can it be 



INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. RVll 

believed, that Jesuitism is not principally chargeable 
with this awfully wide spreading desolation? Do 
not the Jesuit Priests teach, that many of the sins of 
Unchastity are merely venial f are they not pardoned 
lor a slight penance ? are not dispensations for all past 
delinquencies sold for a trifle? Cannot indulgence for 
one or more years, be obtained for a given price, which 
permits the purchaser to violate the law of God as often 
as he pleases, and promises him exemption from the 
divine displeasure ? When we remember the propor- 
tion of Papists in our large cities and towns, is it possi- 
ble that such an irreligious and contaminating system 
should exist, and be in full operation among them, and 
that all other persons should escape the infectious con- 
tagion ? Is it conceivable that the large multitudes of 
sinners who are anxious to live unrestrained by the ju- 
risdiction of Jehovah will not be gratified, without ex- 
amining its genuineness, with a pretended Christianity, 
■ which tolerates them in every licentious practice, and 
which guarantees their eventual security, through the 
power of a Priesthood so condescending to human pro- 
pensities, and whose beneficence is so cheaply pur- 
chased ? 

But probably surveyed in all their operations in civil 
society throughout our Federal Republic, the doctrines 
and practices of the Jesuits and other Roman Priests, 
and their devotees, respecting the ninth commandment, 
are more pernicious than even the desecration of the 
Sabbath, and the deluge of impurity with which they 
are desolating public morals and decorum. The equiv- 
ocations, mental reservations, nullifying of oaths, in- 
fringement of covenants, and in short, all the innumer- 
able modes which those deceivers have invented to in- 
validate apparently the most solemn obligations, and 

2* 



#• ' 



yet to remove any dread of g^ilt from the Falsifiers , 
are the most awful proofs of outrageous impiety, and 
daring perfidy which are found among human annals. 
Yet all those perjuries of the most flagrant character are 
constantly perpetrated in the United States, and by all 
classes of Papists, not only with impunity ; but with the 
approbation and according to the instruction of their 
Priests. Can those barefaced violations of truth and 
sincerity be openly displayed without injury to others 
who witness them? Can the doctrine that the Roman 
Pontiff and his subordinate priests can nullify an oath 
or a contract ; and dispense with the most solemn ob- 
ligations, and authorize deliberate perjury, be openly 
taught as a part of the Romish Religion, without dete- 
riorating the minds and consciences of men not possess- 
ed of that fear of the Lord which is the beginning of 
wisdom 1 Lying and false swearing are essential to ' 
the very existence of Popery. 

It must also be remembered, that this Sabbath-break- 
ing, uncleanness, and deception are taught in all the 
Seminaries and Convents whether of boys or girls in 
this Union. It is of no importance, by what name those 
institutions are known ; Jesuit Priests and Ursuline 
Nuns substantially impart the knowledge, and entice 
to the doing of all that loathsome iniquity. This is 
one of the great prospective dangers to our country. 
Multitudes of youth and of the most influential rank 
in the American community recently have been and 
now are in the course of tuition under those consummate 
adepts in every diabolical art. From their course of 
tuition, all evangelical instruction is most cautiously 
excluded. The juvenile mind is enchanted with pomp 
and mummery ; and beguiled^ with blandishments, or 
menaced with alarm, or operated upon by both alter- 
nately, until the creature has become a mere machine 



IKTSODUCTOET ADDftE^ff. Xlt 

which the priestly artificer adapts to any purpose 
that may promote his designs or gratify his vicious 
desires. All that youth truly learn in any Jesuit insti- 
tution, whether it b^ a college or nunnery, is the most 
efficient manner to impose upon the world around them. 
That is beyond all dispute the most dangerous of all 
the results which flow from those monastic establish- 
ments, in which Protestant boys and girls are immur- 
ed. There they learn every possible abomination ; and 
also are taught every ingenious device by which they 
can elude discovery in the midst of their crimes: and 
deceive all persons who are not minutely conversant 
with their chicanery and turpitude. 

Jesuitism cannot proceed onward in its progress 
throughout our country, as it has done for the last ten 
years without speedily illustrating its baneful effects, 
in the increasing indifference of the public to sterling 
knowledge; in growing imrporality; in prevailing 
scepticism; in a silent but systematic and deadly change 
in the spirit of our statute laws ; and in an accelerating 
corruption and debasement of the national character. 

Jesuitism cannot exercise its present wicked influ- 
ence many years longer before the Christian churches 
will find themselves cowering to the audacity, and 
writhing under the usurpationsof those vile emissaries 
of the Roman Pontiff. 

It is therefore " high time to awuke out of sleep, 
to cast off the works of darkness, and to put on the ar- 
mor of light.^^ The welfare of the community and 
the vital interests of the Christian churches are deeply 
concerned in a prompt renovation of the character and 
actions of Protestants in reference to Popery. Two 
measures are indispensable. An accurate and a gen- 
eral acquaintance with the qualities and mischievous 
effects of the grand apogtacy; and the adoption of 



Xt iKTltODVCTORY ADDREdS. 

efficient and evangelical means to counteract and di* 
roinish that unholy predominance which the Romish 
accursed despotism has already attained. 

The former course necessarily implies the dissemi- 
nation of knowledge by periodicals, standard volumes, 
and popular discussions, especially by lectures on the 
prophecies which advert to Romanism. The latter 
comprises a correct understanding of the evils which 
flow from the existence of Popery in its connection with 
^ civil society, and of the praper methods to extirpate 
that insidious poison which it infuses into the whole 
mass of the community, and by which their energies are 
paralyzed, and the system corrupted with a loathsome 
and direful mortification. With this point however 
the Christian churches, in their associated relations 
cannot interfere. No man wishes to infringe 
upon the rights of conscience; and no citizen would be 
willing to rebuild the dungeous, forge the fetters, shar- 
pen the sword, and kindle the fires of Dominican In- 
quisitors, and Papal Butchers. It may confidently be 
anticipated that the cofiagrations of the Auto da Fe, 
and the indiscriminate massacre of Protestants by the 
blood-hounds of the Mother of Harlots, who furnished 
the blood of the Saints with which she became drunken, 
have passed, away not to be reiterated. But the 
events which have occurred since the commencement 
of that shaking of the nations, the French Revolution 
in 1789, not only in France; but also in Spain, Portu- 
gal, Italy and Austria, assure us; that the Romish 
priestly assassins will not surrender their stilettos, 
their poison, their frauds, and their long enjoyed su- 
premacy without a struggle ; which although it will 
terminate in their overthrow, will previously have con- 
vulsed the nations who had submitted to them to their 
centre; and will spread desolation, anguish, penury 



XNTRODXrCTORY ADPRESg. ' XXI 

and slaughter, through all their boundaries, to the ut- 
most extremity. The United States of America will 
not escape the experience of the storm and the wo, in 
exact proportion to the number of the Papal Ecclesias- 
tics, and the extent to which their power and abomina- 
tions have controlled throughout our country. 

It is therefore deisirable to promulge among our 
churches a work that exhibits in the most compendious 
form the various artifices by which the emissaries of 
the Roman Pontiff endeavor to delude the unwary 
to their ruin ; therel^y to enlighien those who are not 
acquainted with the fallacies and the Popish corrup- 
tions ; and also to excite becoming watchfulness on the 
part of the Protestant churches against the snares of 
their insidious foes. For that purpose, the best proba- 
bly of all the controversial disquisitions by the immor-- 
tal Richard Baxter was selected. During the civil 
commotions in Britain which followed the lawless and 
destructive exhibitions of " King craft," by James I. 
and Charles I. the Jesuits attempted to increase the 
ferment, and the divisions among the Protestants, that 
the unthinking multitudes, weary of their unceasing 
commotions, might jbr quietude as they supposed, take 
refuge in a Jesuit's absolution, and within the turrets 
of Babylon. The authentic history of that period cer- 
tifies that to accomplish their schemes every subter- 
fuge and trick were adopted by those ingenious and 
fox-like masters of fraud and deception. They had re- 
ceived dispensations from the Pope and the General of 
their order to wear every kind of vizor, to appear in 
all sorts of disguise, to assume any name or profession, 
and to perpetrate every possible crime so as to promote 
the grand scheme, the restoration of the Pontifical au- 
thority throughout those kingdoms. 

In consequence of those Papal indulgences, Jesuits 



XXn IMTROBUCTORT ADDRESS. 

were found in all characters ; and always exceeding in 
extravagance even the wildest effervescence of those 
who felt more than ordinary excitement during that 
agitated period. It was then partially known, and has 
since heen amply ascertained and proved ; that Nuns 
obtruded themselves among the female followers of 
George Fox, and that many of the scandalous public 
exhibitions of women in a state of nudity were by those 
well trained prostitutes of the Romish Priests. The 
leaders also of those minor sects who promulged as 
their cardinal tenet, a community of property and sex- 
ual intercourse, were chiefly Jesuits and Nuns, or oth- 
ers whom they had artfully selected as suitable tools to 
carry on their pernicious schemes: Many of those who 
pretended to be preachers of different sects, and who 
were distinguished for the infuriated extravagance of 
their opinions, and the apparent madness of their be- 
haviour, were Roman Priests and Monks; who had 
but one design, to augment the national discord, to dis- 
grace Protestantism, to deceive the ignorant, and thus 
to proselyte the people to the Homan superstitions. 
Baxter wrote the ensuing work expressly to unfold 
their wickedness ; and it is a lasting memento, that Po- 
p^y is immutable in its treachery and ungodliness. 

The attentive American Reader of the " Juggling 
of J emits, ^^ and the specifications of the " Forty Popish 
TraudSy"^ which Richard Baxter has detected and dis- 
closed ; will be deeply impressed with the exact simili- 
tude which there is between the period of Oliver Crom- 
well's supremacy in Britain, and the principles and 
acts of the Jesuits in this republic. Admitting even 
that a modern polemic could have composed a volume 
exactly identical in fervor and in materials, it would 
not have been in any wxiy so impressive as this devel- 
opment of the spirit, and practices of Jesuitism, which 



INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. XXIll 

vas first published one hundred and eighty years siiKe ; 
tnd which is as exactly adapted to the present situation 
of Romanism in the United States, as if it had been com- 
posed under the superintendence of the spirit of proph- 
ecy, or as if it had been a philosophical and historical 
delineation of a preexistent controversy. 

Among the multifarious polemical works in refer- 
ence to Romanism, and the means which its treacher- 
ous partizans use to disseminate it in this country, it is 
believed that no treatise could be selected which pre- 
sents stronger claims upon the attention of the ministers, 
officers,' and members of the American churches, than 
this display ot " Jesuitical Juggling,^^ by Richard Bax- 
ter. Not only does he confute the system of Popery as 
incurably corrupt and totally anti-christian, by a few 
concise arguments, which all can comprehend ; but he 
also de'scribes the dexterous artifices of the Jesuits so 
lucidly and in such diversified forms, that none can 
deny the accuracy of the narrative ; and no one can 
plead an excuse for being ensnared by their ** sleight 
and cunning craftiness, whereby they lay in wait to 
deceive." 

It is deliberate treason to the Lord of all, or it is ju- 
dicial infatuation in all those ministers and members of 
the Christian churches, who assert that the alarm re- 
specting Popery is fictitious, and that the battle with 
Jesuitism has not yet to be fought in this Union. Are 
there not at the present hour, probably twelve hundred 
thousand Papists in the United States, with half a mil- 
lion more in Canada at the North, and several millions 
adjoining on the South West in Mexico? Are not 
France and Spain, and Portugal, and Ireland, and 
Austria, constantly disgorging the very dregs of Rom- 
ish ecclesiastical corruption in the shape of Monks and 



XXiv INTRODUCTORY AD DRE88. 



Nuifb upon our land and in a continuously augment- 
ing stream ? Monks and Nuns also of such abandoned 
profligacy, that even those pitiable priest-ridden slaves 
could no longer tolerate their turpitude, or their existence 
among them ? The time will speedily arrive when 
their morbid influence will be felt by the body politic, 
and their iron grasp will convince our citizens that if 
they would preserve their rights and enjoy the gospel, 
they must " put on the whole armour of God, and wres- 
tle against the rulers of the dj^rkness of this world, and 
a gainst spiritual wickedneess in high places." 

Therefore Ministers and Churches ! hear the words 
of" the son of God, the Amen, who hath his eyes like 
unto a flame of fire." — *' I have a few things against 
you, because you sufier that woman Jezabel, who calleth 
herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my ser- 
vants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed 
to idols. Be watchful and strengthen the things which 
remain, that are ready to die. Be zealous therefore 
and repent ! He that hath an ear, let him hear what 
the Spirit saith unto the churches!" 



EPISTLE DEDICATORY 

TO 

RICHARD CROMWELL. 



These papers tender you their service, because the 
subject of thtm so nearly concerneth both us and you, 
that you should be well acquainted with them. The 
Roman Canons that batter the unity, Catholicism, and 
purity of the Church of Christ, are mounted on the 
frame which I have here demolished. The swords and 
pens, and tongues that you are now engaged against,' 
and which you must expect henceforth to assault you, 
are whetted and managed by the senseless, tyrannous, 
ungodly principles w-hich 1 have here detected. Un- 
reasonable as they appear to the unprejudiced, they 
have animated the studies and diligent endeavors 
of thousands to captivate the princes and nations of the 
earth to the Roman yoke. Vain as they appear to us 
that see them naked, they have divided and distracted 
the churches of Christ, and troubled and dethroned 
princes, and laid them at the feet of the Roman Pope. 
They have absolved subjects from their oaths and other 
obligations to fidelity; and have involved many na- 
tions in blood. O the streams of the blood of saints that 
have been shed by Roman principles, in Savoy, France, 
Bohemia, Poland, Germany, Ireland, England, and 
many other lands ! The war I here manage, is against 
those adverse principles that have armed thousands and 
millions against the innocent, or against their lawful 
sovereignis, whom God had bound them to obey. They 
have fastened knives in the breasts of the greatest kings, 
as the lamentable cases of Henry the Third and Fourth 
of France do testify. They have, in a few days time, 
in Paris, and the adjoining parts of France, perfidiously 
butchered nobles, and other persons of eminence, and 
people of all sorts, to the number of forty thousand. 
The doctrines which I here confound, have invaded 
England by a Spanish armada, by the Pope's consent, 
and upon tne account of religion. They have prepared 



26 EPISTLE 

knives and poison for our princes, which God did frus- 
trate. They have laid gunpowder to blow up king and 
parliament, and hellishly execute the fury of the delu- 
ded zealots in a moment, and then charged the Puritans 
with the fact. In a time of peace, by a sudden insurrec- 
tion, they murdered so many thousands in Ireland in a 
few days or weeks as posterity will scarcely believe. 
They are dreadful practicals, and not mere speculations, 
that we dispute against. I beseech you, therefore, that 
you receive not this as you would do a scholastic or 
philosophical disputation about- such things as seem 
not to concern you ; but as you \vould interest yx)urself 
in a disputation upon the question, whether you should 
be murdered as a heretic, and whether we should be 
tormented and burnt as heretics, and whether the lives 
of all the princes and people upon earth, whom the 
Pope judgeth heretics, should be at his mercy. I speak 
not this to provoke you to deal bloodily with them, as 
they do with the servants of the Lord ! I abhor the 
thought of imitating their cruelty I It is only the ne- 
cessary defence of your life and dignity, and the lives 
of all the Protestants that are under your protection 
and government, and the souls of men, that I desire. 
On what terms we stand with those men whose religion 
teacheth them to kill us^ if they can, and to venture their 
lives for it, is easy to understand. When we have no 
security from then! for our lives, but their inability to 
destroy us, we must disable them or die. I utter not 
melancholy dreams nor slanders. I have here showed 
it in the plain and copious decrees of the approved 
General Council at Lateran, that the deposing of princes, 
and absolving their subjects from their fidelity, and 
giving their dominions to others, noi only for supposed 
heresy, but for not exterminating such as denytransub- 
stantiation, &c., is an article of their faith; and no man 
can disown it without disowning TPopery in the essen- 
tials. If once they will renounce the decrees of general 
councils approved by the Pope, we shall be soon agreed. 
Costerus, Enchirid. cap. 1, p. 46, saith; Qua sane de- 
er eia si verittUem^ si cbsignationem Spiritus Sanctis si 
prtRseniiam Christi species, idem habent pondus et mo- 
mentum quod Sancia Dei Evangelia ; ** which decrees, 



DEDICATORY. 27 

if you advert to the truth, or the seal of the Holy Spirit, 
or the presence of Christ, have the same authority as 
the holy gospel of God." They believe those decrees 
to be as true as the gospel. Bozius Hostiensis, and 
many more of them make the Pope to be the Lord of 
all the world. Bellarmin and the stronger side do 
carry it as tne common judgment of all Catholic di- 
vines ; see what a rabble he heaps up.. De Pontif Rom. 
li. 5, c. 1, that the Pope ratione spiritualise habet saltern 
indirecte potestatem quandam^ eamque summam in tern" 
poralibus; "by reason of his spiritual office, has the 
chief power in temporal affairs!" Which, cap, 6, he 
saith, is just such over princes as the soul hath over 
the body or sensitive appetite ; and that thus he may 
change kingdoms, and take them from one and give 
them to another, as the chief spiritual prince, if it be 
but necessary to the safety of souls. Cap. 7. Whether 
the Pope do take your government to be for the good 
of souls, I need not tell you. It is the stupendous judg- 
ment of God on Christian princes for their sins, that 
they have been so far blinded as to endure such a 
usurper so long, and have not before this blotted out 
his name from among the sons of men. It is not law- 
ful ,saith Bellarmin, ib. c. 7, for Christians to tolerate 
an infidel, or heretical king, if he endeavor to draw his 
subjects to his heresy or unbeliefs but to judge whether 
a king do draw to heresy or not, belongeth to the Pope, 
to whom the care of religion is committed: therefore it 
belongs to the Pope to judge a king to be deposed, or 
not deposed. You see here it is not lawful for such 
Christians as the Papists to tolerate you ; which may 
help your judgment in the point of their toleration. Si 
Christiani, saith Bellar. ib. olim non deposuerunt Nero- 
nem — Valentem Arianum et similes, id fuit quia dee- 
rant vires iemporales Christianis; "if Christians for- 
merly did not depose Nero, Valens the Arian, and 
others, it was because they were deficient in temporal 
power!" You have your government, and we our 
lives, because the Papists are not strong enough. They 
tell you what to trust to. Toilet, one of the best Jesuits, 
li. 1. de Instruct. Sacerd. c. 13, saith;' They that were 
bound by the bond of fidelity or oath, shall be freed 



28 EPISTLE 

from sach a bond, if he fall into excommanication : and 
during that, debtors are absolved from the obligation of 
paying to the creditor that debt that is contracted by 
words. These are no private, iueflfectual opinions. 
Pope Pius y. himself in his bull against Clueen Eliza- 
beth, saith ; We will and command that the subjects take 
arms against that heretical and excommunicated queen. 
But their cruelty to mens' souls and the Church of 
Christ, doth yet much more declare their uncharitable- 
ness. It is a point of their religion to believe that no 
man can be saved but the subjects of their Pope. Knott, 
and a late pamphlet called " Questions for Resolution 
of unlearned Protestants, &c.," and Bishop Morton hath 
recited the words of Lindanus, Valentia, and Vasquez. 
Apol. lib. 2, c. 1, defining it to be of necessity to salva- 
tion, to be subject to the Roman Bishop. Would not a 
man think, that for such horrid doctrines, as damn the 
far greatest part of Christians in the world, they should 
produce at least some probable arguments? But what 
they have to say, I have here faithfully detected. If we 
will dispute with them, or turn to them, the scripture 
must be no further judge than as their church expound- 
jeth it. The judgment of the ancient, yea, or present 
church, they utterly renounce ; for the far greatest part 
is known to be against the headship of their Pope ; and 
therefore they must stand by for heretics. Tradition 
itself they dare not stand to, except themselves be judges 
of it; for the greatest part of Christians profess that 
tradition is against the Roman Vice-Christ. The in- 
ternal sense and experience of Christians they gainsay; 
concluding all besides themselves to be void of charity 
or saving grace ; which many thousands of holy souls 
do find within them, that never believed in the Pope. 
Yea, when we are content to lay our lives on it, that we 
will show them the deceit of Popery, as certainly and 
plainly as bread is known to be bread when we see it, 
feel, and taste it, and as wine is known to be wine when 
we see and drink ; yet do they refuse even the judgment 
of sense, of all mens' senses, even their own and others. 
So that we must renounce our honesty, our knowledge 
of ourselves, our senses, our reason, the common expe- 
rience and senses of all men, and the judgment of the 



DEDICATORY. 29 

far greatest part of the present church, or else by the 
judgment of the Papists we must all be damned. 

Whether such opinions as those should by us be un- 
contradicted, or by you be suffered to bq taught your 
subjects, is easy to discern. If they had strength, they 
would little trouble us with dispirting. Nothing is more 
common in their writers than that the sword or fire is 
fitter for heretics than disputes. This is but their after- 
game. Though their church must rule princes, as the 
soul ruleth the body, yet it must be by secular power. 
Excommunication dotn but give fire ; lead and iron do 
' the execution. When they are themselves disabled, it 
is their way to strike us by the hands and swords of 
one another. He that saw England, Scotland, and Ire- 
land awhile ago in blood, and now sees the lamentable 
case of so many Protestant princes and nations destroy- 
ing one another, and thinks that Papists have no hand 
in contriving, counselling, and instigating, or executing^ 
is a stranger to their principles and practices. 

Observing, therefore, that of all the sects that we are 
troubled with, there is none but the Papist that disputeth 
with us with flames and gunpowder, with armies and 
navies at their backs, having so many princes, and so 
great revenues for their provision ; I have judged it my 
duty to detect the vanity of their cause. 

We earnestly request, that you will, resolvedly, 
adhere to the cause of truth and holiness, and afford the 
reformed churches abroad the utmost of your help for 
• their concord and defence, and never be tempted to own 
an interest that crosseth the interest of Christ. How 
many thousands are studiously contriving the extirpa- 
, tion of the Protestant churches from the earth 1 How 
many princes are confederate against them 1 The more 
will be required of yo# for their aid. The serious en- 
deavors of your renowned father, Oliver Cromwell^for 
the Protestants of Savoy, hath won him more esteem 
than all his victories. 

We humbly request, that you will faithfully ad- 
here to those that fear the Lord in your dominions. In 
your eyes let a vile person be contemned; but honor 
them that fear the Lord. Psal. xv. 4. Know not the 
wicked ; but let your eyes be upon the faithful of the 

o 



30 EPISTLE 

« 

land. Psal. ci. 4. 6. Compassionate tbe weak and 
curable. Punish the incurable ; restrain the fro ward, 
but love and cherish the servants of the Ijord. They 
are, under Christ, the honor and the strength of the 
commonwealth It was a wise and a happy king that 
professed that his good should extend to the saints on 
earth, and tbe excellent, in whom was his delight. Psal. 
xvi. 2, 3. This strengthening of the vitals is one of the 
chief means to keep out Popery and all other danger- 
ous diseases. We see few understanding godly people 
receive the Roman infection, but tbe profane, licen- 
tious, ignorant, or malignant that are prepared for it. 

We earnestly request your utmost care, that we 
may be ruled by godly, faithful magistrates, under you ; 
ana that your wisdom and vigilance may frustrate the 
subtilty of masked Papists or Infidels, that would creep 
into places of council, command, or justice, or any pub- 
lic office. If ever such as those should be our rulers, 
we know what w^e must expect. The reasons of our 
jealousies of such men are, because we know that the 
design is agreeable to their principles and interests. 
We know it is their usual course ; and we find that such 
Bien swarm among us. We hear their words ; we read 
their writings, we see their practices for Popery and 
Infidelity. The jealousies of many wise men in Eng- 
land are very great, concerning the present designs of 
this generation of men ; and not without cause. We 
fear the masked Papists and Infidels more than the bare- 
faced enemy. The men that we are jealous of, and over 
whom we desire you to be vigilant, are those hiders, 
that purposely obscure and cover their religion. He 
that wilfully concealeth his faith, alloweth me to sus- 
pect it to be naught. Those men we are jealous of; and 
if ever you advance them into^laces of command or 
power. It will increase our jealousies. I have no per- 
sonal grudge to any of them. But the gospel, and the 
souls of men, and the hopes of our posterity, are not so 
contemptible as to be given away as a bribe to purchase 
those men's good will, or to stop their mouths, lest they 
should reproach us. As it i^ the common, but a poor 
redress, thai after the massacres of thousands, the sur- 
viving Protestants have still had from the Papists, to 



DEDICATORY. 31 

disclaim the fact, or cast it upon sOme rash, discontented 
men, which will not make dead men alive again. So 
will it be a poor relief to us, when those men are our 
masters, and have deprived us of all that was dear to 
us in the world, that we -escaped their ill language 
while the work was doing. 

Papists disown abundance of the abominations which 
they propagate; but as plain dealing in religion is bet- 
ter than juggling, so, we had rather that open Papists 
were tolerated, than those juggling deceivers. They 
that know the Jesuits and Friars, profess that they arc 
more common in princes, councils, and families, and in 
the houses, if not the closets of noblemen, commanders, 
and persons of public trust or service, than we that live 
and mean simply, do imagine. And who* would have 
thought that had not known it, that they had so insinu- 
ated into the several sects among us, and that they were 
so industrious in their work, as the Newcastle Scottish 
Jew was, to be circumcised or become Jew, arid then 
re-baptized, &c., and all to deceive ? 

Judge how far thi*ir seductipns are to be tolerated. 
They preach f reason against princes and states as a 
principal part of their religion. 

Their doctrine corrupteth all morality, what need we 
fuller, clearer proof, than the Jansenian hath given us 
in his " Mystery of Jesuitism ?" Morton hath long ago 
produced enough to tell us what to expect from such 
men. Apolog. part I. 1. 2. c, 13. Toilet, himself, 1. 4. 
de Instruct. Sacerd., c. 9, saith ; Quantum ad intentio- 
mm dilectionis, non tenemur sub frecepto Deum plus 
omnibus diligere. " As to the intention of delight, we 
are not bound by the command to love God, more than 
others." Stapleton, 1. 6. de justif, c. 10., and Valent. 1. 
de Votis, c. 3, saith ; Hoc precepium diligendi Deum ex 
iota meniCi doctrinale est, non obligatorium. " The 
precept t) love God with all the mind, is merely doctri- 
nal, and not obligatory." See here, a precept, and the 
greatest precept, even to love God above all, is not obli- 
gatory ? And p. 322, he reciteth the words of Toilet- 
ibid. I. 4. c. 21, and 22; teaching equivocation upon 
oath before a magistrate, and so maintaining perjury. 
And p. 327, he citeth the same author, maintaining that 



32 EPISTLE DEDICATOET. 

murder and blasphemy, in a passion, and not delibe* 
rate, is no mortal sin, unless in one that is used to blas- 
pheme. And p. 329, Bellarmu Costerus, and Valentia 
maintain, that fornication in a priest, is better, or a 
smaller sin than to marry. The like he shows of their 
doctrine of theft, false witness, &c , p. 332, 333. &c. 

Above all their other mischiefs, the propagating of 
infidelity is the greatest. Under the vizor of infidels, 
they plead against scripture and Christianity, to loosen 
men from all religion, and persuade them that they , 
must be infidels or papists. Veron and his followers 
have given them full directions to manage that design. 
And while with debauched consciences they thus per- 
suade men to be infidels in jest, they have made abun- 
dance such in true sadness; so that there are many 
such swarm among us, that sometimes seemed pious 
persons, that plead against Christianity itself. The 
leading papists seem to be Christians in jest, and infi- 
dels in good earnest themselves. 

If you ask who it is that presumeth thus to be your 
monitor ? It is one that serveth so great a master, that 
he thinks it no unwarrantable presumption in such a 
case to be faithfully plain with the greatest prince. It 
is one that stands so near eternity, where Lazarus shall 
wear the crown, that unfaithful man-pleasing would 
be to him a double crime. It is one that rejoiceth in the 
present happiness of England, and earnestly wisheth 
that it were but as well with the rest of the world ; and 
that honoreth all the providences of God, by which 
we have been brought to what we are. He is one that 
concurring in the common hopes of greater blessings 
yet to these nations under your government, and observ- 
ing your acceptance of the frequent addresses that from 
all parts of the land are made unto you, was encour- 
aged to concur with the rest, in the tender of his service. 
That the Lord will make you a healer and preserver of 
his churches here at home, and a successful helper to 
his churches abroad, is the earnest prayer of 

RICHARD BAXTER. 



PREFACE. 



The controversies here handled are'those that still 
are making the greatest combustions in the Christian 
world ; and yet they seem exceeding easy. I seldom 
meet with a learned Protestant but taketh Popery for such 
transparent fallacies, that he is little or no whit troubled 
with any doubtings in the business. 

We are confident of our own religion, because we 
believe the gospel: and we have no other rule and test 
of our religion : and we are confident that Popery is a 
deceit, because we both believe the gospel and the judg- 
ment of the ancient and present churches, and because 
we believe our sense itself As sure as we know bread 
from flesh, and wine from blood, by seeing, tasting, &c., 
so sure know we that Popery is false. And if a contro- 
versy is not at an end, when it is brought to the judg- 
ment of all the senses of all the sound men in the world, 
it being about the object of sense, then we are past hope 
of ending controversies ; and therefore, as we will not 
waste our time to dispute that snow is black, or the fire 
cold, no more will we trouble ourselves with those men 
that tell us that bread is not bread, and wine is not wine. 

Two things the Papists are still harping on. The first 
is, that in our way, we have no assurance that the Chris- 
tian religion is true, or that scripture is the word of 
God. Their Second is, that thread-bare question. Where 
was your church before Luther ? Where hath it been 
successively in each age.' And here mere sophistry 
carrieth it through the papal world, to the deluding of 
the simple, that are not able to see things for names. 

The men that ask us where our church and religion 
was, either know not, or will not let others know what 
our religion is. Show us, say they, a church in all 
ages that held all that the Protestants hold, or else they 



34 PREFACE. 

were not Protestants. Forsooth, we must receive from 
them a definition of a Protestant, and then we mast 
prove the succession of such. Know therefore, what 
18 the things whose succession is questioned. A Pro- 
testant is a Christian that holdeth to the holy scriptures, 
as the sufficient rule of faith and holy living, and pro- 
testeth against Popery. The Protestant churches "are 
societies professing the Protestant's religion. The Pro- 
testant religion is an improper speech ; but the Protest- 
ant's religion is a phrase that we shall own. For Pro- 
testancy is not our religion itself, but the rejection of 
Popish corruptions of religion or defiling additions. 
The Protestant's-religion is the holy scriptures alone. 
The Papist's religion is all that is decreecf by the Pope 
and councils. Our religion, contained in the scripture, 
hath its essentials and integrals, All the essentials and 
as much of the integrals as in the use of means we are 
enabled to understand, we believe particularly and ex- 
plicitly : the rest we believe generally and implicitly to 
be all true. The essentials of our religion are only 
the baptismal covenant expounded in the creed. Lord's 
Prayer, and Decalogue, as opened by Christ, the sum- 
maries of things to be believed, willed, and done; bap- 
tism being appointed by Christ himself, for the true and 
sufficient symbol of our faith, to put men into the right 
and possession of church communion ; and the depart- 
ing from this test or symbol, made by Christ himself, 
for this use, is the lacerating of the churches. But the 
whole scriptures contain more, even the integrals and 
accidentals of our religion. 

So that, as the Papists will not permit us to take the 
writings of Gretser, Bellarmin, or any of their doctors, 
or the articles of their divines at Thoren, Ratisbon, 
&c., to be articles of their faith, but only those that are 
contained in general councils approved by the Pope ; 
so We require that they call nothing the articles of our 
faith, but what is contained in the said summaries and 
in the holy scriptures, which are the only rule of our en- 
tire religion. Do they know our religion better than 
we do ? 

The Christian religion hath been in all age^ since 
Christ in visible societies. The religion of Protestants 



PREFACE. 35 

is the Christian relig^ion. Therefore, the religion of 
Protestants hath heen in all ages since Christ, in visihle 
societies. 

That religion which is contained in the»holy scrip- 
ture, as its rule or sufficient revelation, hath heen pro- 
fessed in all ages in vi^ihle churches ; hut the religion 
of Protestants is contained in the holy scriptures as its 
rule or sufficient revelation : therefore, the religion of 
Protestants hath heen professed in all ages in visihle 
churches. 

We name the societies from the places of their resi- 
dence. Our church hegan at Jerusalem, and thence 
was dispersed into Asia, Africa, and Europe. It hath 
continued in Syria, Ethiopia, Egypt, India, Greece, &c. 
If I could name but one nation that had been of my 
religion, I should suspect it were not the true religion. 
It is the Christian world that is instead of a catalogue 
to us. 

O but, say the jugglers, this is a general answer, to 
say you are Christians : there are more sorts of Chris- 
tians than one. I reply, it is the general or Catholic 
religion and church that we are speaking of; and, there- 
fore, if it were not such a general answer, it were not 
pertinent to the question. There are no sorts of true 
Christians but one; that is, there is no essential 
diffijrence among them. But may not Christians of 
several degrees of knowledge be in the same Catholic 
church ? Our question is not, where any sect, or any 
particular church hath had its succession; but where 
that Catholic church hath been, of which we are mem- 
bers. And surely Christ hath but one Catholic church. 
O but, say they, would you make men believe that 
Ethiopians, Armenians, Greeks, &c., are Protestants? 
Is it the name of Protestants, or their Religion, that 
you would have us prove a succession of? Those de- 
ceivers cheat abundance of poor souls by this one 
device, even supposing that the word Protestant doth 
denominate our church from its essential parts, and so 
call for a catalogue of Protestants. But I would ask, 
whether we or they do better know our religion; 
and consequently what a Protestant is ? If they 
know it at all, it is from our writings or expres- 
sions/ For they will not pretend without signs to 



86 PREFACE. 

know our hearts, and that better than ourselves. A 
Protestant is a Christian that protesteth against Popery. 
Christianity is our religion. Protesting against Popery 
is our rejection of your corruptions of religion. Men 
that never heard of the name of Papist or Protestant, 
may be of the same religion with us. If many nations 
of the world never received Popery, and we reject it; if 
they never knew it, and we know it and disown it : are 
we not both of one religion, even in the integrals? 
One man never heard of the leprosy; another catcheth 
it and is cured of it; and a third flieth from it and pre- 
venteth it ; all those are truly sound men. When you 
call to us for a proof of our succession, either you mean 
it of the essentials of our religion and church, or of the 
negation of your corruptions. Either you mean it of 
the points that we are agreed in, or of those we difier in. 
Christianity we are agreed in; and that is our religion, 
and nothing but that. Protestancy is but our wiping 
off the dirt, that you have brought upon our religion. 
Is he not a man as well as you that will not tumble 
with you in the dirt, or go into your Pesthouse? If 
we know not our own religion, then we cannot tell it 
you ; and then you cannot know it : but if we do know 
it, believe us when we profess our own belief We own 
no religion but the Christian religion, nor any church 
but the Christian church, nor dream of any catholic 
church but one, containing all the true christians in the 
world, united in Jesus Christ the Head. We protest 
before men and Angels that it is the Holy Scriptures 
that are the law and rule and test of our religion ; and 
why are we not to be believed in this our own profes- 
sion, as well as you are in yours, when you make the 
decrees of Popes and councils to be your law and rule 
and tests ? 

We perform therefore more than you demand. You 
ask us where was our church before Luther? and we 
answer where ever the Christian religion was, and the 
Holy Scriptures were received. But we tell you not 
only where our church and religion was, but where 
there were men that owned not your grand corruptions, 
more than we. What can you demand more of us, 
when you call for a succession of Protestants, than that 



PREFACE. 37 

we tell you of a succession of christians of our religion 
who were not Papists, and against Popery, who therefore 
were of our integrity. Who knoweth not that the Abas- 
sines, Armenians, Egyptians, Greeks, &c., are against 
your Papal sovereignty, infallibility, and all that is by 
us renounced as essential to Popery, though not against 
every one of your anti-christian errors ? 

O, but, say the jugglers, those are not Protestants; 
they differ from you in many particulars. Call them 
by what name you please, they are anti-papists, or free 
from Popery, and then they are of ou^r religion. But 
must the world be made to believe that all that we be- 
lieve is essential to our religion, and that no man that 
di^reth from us can be of our religion, be the differ- 
ence ever so small.' 

But, say they, tell us of a church that professes your 
articles. Silly deceivers! Do not those very articles 
profess that the "holy scripture containeth all things ne- 
cessary to salvation, so that whatever is not read there- 
in, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of 
any man that it should be believed as an article of the 
faith, or bethought requisite or necessary to salvation." 
We never took those articles instead of the Scripture, 
but the articles and all Protestants profess the Scripture 
to be the only entire rule and test of their faith and reli- 
gion. The substance of our articles may easily be 
proved to have beeii successively held by the church 
from the beginning ; but it is not incumbent on us to 
prove that every word in the writings of every divine 
or chiirch hath been so continued ; no mpre than you 
will own the writings of any divines or provincial sy- 
nods of your own, as being the rule of your faith. As 
you profess that the decrees of Popes and general 
councils approved by him, besides the Scriptures, are 
the rule and test of your religion ; so do we profess that 
the Scripture alone, with the law of nature, is the rule 
of ours. 

But, what ! say they, will you be of the same church 
with Nestorians, Eutychians, and other heretics ? I 
answer ; we will not take all for Nestorians, or Euty- 
chians, that a railer can call such, that never knew 
them, nor can prove it Heretics, indeed, that deny any 

4 




38 PREFACE. 

essential part of Christianity, are no Christians, and, 
therefore, not of the church that we are of: but if you 
will call those heretics that have all the essentials of 
Christianity, because they err in less points, we know 
that there are such in the Catholic church. We will be 
none of them ourselves, if we can escape it ; yet, indeed, 
we have no hope of escaping all error till we are per- 
fect in knowledge; but we will not run out of the family 
of God, because there are children and sick persons in 
it ; nor will we forsake the Catholic church because 
there are erring persons in it. 

O but, saith the Papist, we acknowledge not your 
distinction of points essential and not essential ; all 
points of faith are essential with us, and of necessity tQ 
salvation. That is such impudent and faithless juggling 
as may make one blush to think that Christianity hath 
such professors. The outside of that assertion damneth 
all the world who live to the use of reason. The inside 
of their deceitful meaning is almost clean contrary, and 
leaveth heathens and infidels in a state of salvation as 
well as Christians. It makes no one article of faith 
essential to a Christian, or to one that shall be saved ; 
and turns the church into an invisible thing, clean con- 
trary to their own assertions of its visibility. Thus 
they wrangle themselves into a wood of contradictions 
and. unchristian absurdities. 

The outside of their assertion is this ; that evety 
point that we are bound to believe by a divine faith, is 
fundamental or essential to Christian faith, or of neces- 
sity to salvation : and if then no man breathing can be 
saved, for no man knoweth all that he is bound to know, 
no man believeth that which he understandeth not. It 
is impossible to believe that a proposition is a truth dis- 
tinctly and actually, when I understand not what the 
proposition is. That we all know but in part, even 
what we are obliged to know, no man will deny. All 
that God hath revealed in his word, is the matter of our 
faith. No man can say, I have no culpable ignorance 
of any one truth of God that I should believe. Had we 
b«en more perfect in our diligent studies and prayers, 
and use of all means ; and had we never sinfully griev- 
^ the spirit that should illuminate us, to say nothing 



SREFACX. 39 

of our original sinful darkness, there is not one of us 
but might have known more than we do. If sin of the 
will and life be consistent with true &ith, then some sin 
in the understanding is^ consistent with &ith. But, ac- 
cording to the outside of their doctVine, no man that 
hath any sinful ignorance, and consequently, unbelief 
in his understanding, can be saved ; that is, no man in 
the world. If he that thinks he knoweth any thing, 
knoweth nothing as he ought to know, 1 Cor. viii. 2^ 
what shall be said of those men that think they and all 
the church do know all things that they ought to know, 
and that their understandings have no sin ? And must 
we be of that faith that damneth nil men, and of that 
church where none are saved ? 

As the outside of their assertions is tnnde for a bug- 
bear to frighten fools, so the inside is this that heathens 
and infidels may be of their church, or saved, and that 
nothing of the Christian faith at all is necessary to 
salvation. For they tell us that they mean, that all 
points are of necessity, where they are sufficiently pro- 
posed, and men's ignorance is not invincible ; but where 
there is no sufficient proposal, but men's ignorance is 
invincible, or such ^s comes not from a wilful neglect 
of means, there no ignorance of the articles of faith is 
damnable,' and so no article absolutely necessary. 
Hence, the question indeed is not whether men believe 
or not, but whether they are unbelievers or heathens, 
or ignorant persons, by a wiUul neglect of sufficiently 
proposed truth, or not. So that all that part of the 
heathen or infidel world that have no proposal of the 
Gospel, may not only be saved, but be better and safer 
than Christians, who certainly are ignorant of some 
truth which they ought to know. 

But, say they, it will not stand with faith to deny be- 
lief to God in any thing sufficiently revealed ; for he 
that believeth him in one thing, belie veth him in all. 

Very true, if they know it to be the word of God. 
And if this be all, Protestants believe every thing with- 
out exception which they know to be a divine revela- 
tion ; and no wonder, for so doth every man that believes 
that there is a God, and that he is no liar. But may it 
not stand with faith to be ignorant, and that through 



40 PRIffACI. 

ainful neglect, of some reve&led trutli of God, or of the 
meaning of his word ? If you are so proud as to think 
that all the justified are perfect and have no sin, yet at 
least consider whether a man that livethin Heathenism 
till fourscore years of age,and then turns Christian, is not 
afterward ignorant through his former sinful negligence? 
But dare you say that you have no sinful ignorance co 
hewail f Will you confess none, nor heg pardon, nor 
be holden to Christ to pardon it f Thusthey make no 
point of faith necessary, while they seem to make all 
necessary. 

By this Protean juggling, they make the church in- 
visible. For what man breathing knoweth the secrets 
of the souls of others, whether they have resiisted or 
not resisted the light ? and whether they are ignorant 
of the articles of faith upon sinful contempt, or for want 
of some due means of faith, or internal capacity, or op- 
portunity*? We are as sure that all men are ignorant 
of something that God hath revealed to be known in 
nature and Scripture, as that they are men. But now 
whether any one of those men be free from ag-grava- 
tions of his ignorance., and that in every point, upon 
which the Papists make him an unbeliever, is unknown 
to others. When the faith or infidelity of men, and so 
their being in the church or out of it, must not be 
known by the matter of faith which they profess, but 
by the secret passages of their hearts, their willingness 
or unwillingness, resistance or non-resistance, and such 
like, the church then is invisible. No man can say 
which is it, nor who is of it. He that prdfesseth not 
the faith, may be a Catholic ; and he that professeth it, 
for ought they know, may be an infidel, as being sin- 
fully ignorant of some one truth that is not in his 
express confession. Thus by confusion the builders of 
Babel mar their own work. 

Bellarm, de Verbo Dei, lib, 4. cap. 11, saith : "In 
the Christian doctrine both of faith and manners, some 
things are necessary to salvation to all; as the know- 
ledge of the articles of the Apostles* creed, -of the Ten 
Commandments, and of some sacraments. The rest 
are not so necessary, that a man cannot be saved with- 
out the ej(plicit knowledg^e, belief, and profession of 



PREVACC. 41 

them. — 'nit)se things that are simply necessary and 
are profitable to all, the Apostles preached to all.;^- 
All things are written by the Apostles which are Neces- 
sary to all, and which they openly preached to €ilL" 

Costerus Enchirid, c. 1, p. 49. " We deny not that 
those chief heads of the faith which are to all Chris- 
tians necessary to he known to salvation, are perspfc- 
uously enough comprehended in the writings of the 
Apostlea.^' 

Thus they are forced after all their cavils, to say as 
we, in distinguishing of articles of faith. They can- 
not be ignorant, that the church hath still had forms of 
profession,' which wer« called her symbols, as being the 
badge of her members; and did not suspend all upon 
uncertain conjectures about the frame and temper of the 
professor's minds. 

But if indeed it be not the want of necessary articles 
cf faith that they accuse us of, but the want of willing- 
ness or diligence to know the truth, let them prove 
their accusations. Do they ttink we would not as wil- 
lingly know the truth as they ? and that we do not pray 
as earnestly for Divine illumination ? Do we not read 
their books? and are we not willing to confer with the 
wisest of ihem that can inform us ? When we prove 
a succession of our religion, by proving a succession 
of such as adhered to the Scriptures, which are the doc- 
trines of our religion, an argument that no Papist uiider 
heaven can confute, they vainly tell us, that ail heretics 
pretend io Scripture, and therefore that will not prove 
the point. 

Doth it follow that Scripture is not a sufficient rule of 
our religion, because heretics may pretend to it ? You 
take our articles for our religion, and yet may heretics 
that are far from out minds, pretend to them ; and 
would borrow credit from it to their heresies. The 
law of the land is the rule of our justice ; and yet law- 
yers and their clients that are contrary to each other, do 
plead it for their contrary causes. Must we have no rule 
or test or discovery of bur religion which a heretic can 
pretend for his impiety ? What words of Grod or man 
are not capable of being misinterpreted ? If we should 
give you every day a confession of faith, some heretics 

• 4* 



i% PRSFACS. 

might pretead lo hold the same. No wonder then if 
they do so by the Scriptures. 

Can any learned Papists be so ignorant, as not <o 
know that the authority of Popes and Councils is fre- 
quently pretended for contrary opinions among them, 
and by many heretics. Will they therefore grant that 
the decrees of Popes and Councils are no sufficient dis- 
covery of their faith ? If heretics pretending to your 
test of foith , disprove not that to be your faith, then 
heretics pretending to our jule and test of faith, which 
is the Holy Scripture, i-s no proof that it is not our rule 
of faith. 

Therefore, the proof of a succession of such churches 
as have received the Holy Scriptures, is a valid proof 
of a succession of churches of our religion, seeing we 
have no religion, doctrinally, but the Holy Scriptures : 
yet adding that we prove a succession also of churches 
that never owned Popery ; even the greatest part of the 
Christian world. But let those men themselves but 
prove to us a succession of their church, even such as 
they require of us, let them prove that from the Apos- 
tles' days, the Catholic church, or any one congrega- 
tion of twenty nien, did hold all that now their Councils 
and Popes have decreed, and are esteemed articles of 
their faith, and I am contented to be their bond slave 
forever, or to be used by them as cruelly as their malice 
can invent. 

In the very principal point of their Papal Sove- 
reignty, the J/ have nothing but this gross deceit to cheat 
the world with. The Roman emperors divers ages 
after Christ did give the Bishop of Rome a primacy 
in their empire, and hence those men would persuade 
us, that even from Christ they have had a sovereignty 
over all the Christian world. Wink but at these four 
mistakes ; that Christ's Institution stands in stead of the 
emperor's : that [divers hundred years after Christ, it 
had been in the Apostles' days ! that primacy is sove- 
reignty or universal government : and especially grant 
them, that the Roman Empire was all the Christian 
world ; and then they have made good that part of their 
cause. 

That many nations without the reach of the Roman 



PREFACE. 43 

Empire had received the Christian faiths is a historical 
fact which is past doubt. Those countries were not 
under the Roman power ; and none of them were gov- 
erned by the Pope. 

If all that pan of the Christian world that was out 
of the reach of the Romaii Empire, did never submit 
to the sovereignty of the Pope, then hath he not been 
successively, or at any time the actual head of the uni- 
versal church. The Eraperor*s mother of Abassia, 
baffled the Jesuits, by asking them, how it came to pass, 
if obedience to the Pope be necessary to salvation, that 
they never had heard from him till now? 

The Indians, Abassines, Persians, and many more 
in the East ; and the Scots, and Irish, and Danes, and 
Swedes, and Poles, and Muscovites, and most of Ger- 
many in the West and North, were not subjects of the 
Pope. 

If the rule and test of the faith of Papists never had 
a real being, or no succession from the Apostles, then 
their faith and church hath either no real being, or no 
such succession. 

It is either general councils, or Popes, or the church 
essential, as they call it, that is, the whole body, that is 
the rul(B of their faith. If it be general councils ; they 
had no being from the Apostles till the council of Nice ; 
therefore the rule of the Papists* faith was then un- 
born. They never had a being in the world : for there 
was never any thing like a general council since the 
days of the Apostles to this day. The first at Nice 
had none, and the following councils, as Constantinop. 
1. &c. were only out of one piece of the empire. 

If it be not general councils, but the Pope that is the 
rule of their faith ; then, their faith hath been inter- 
rupted, and turned to heresy and to infidelity when the 
Pope hath so turned. Why then do they tell our 
people, that they take not the Pope for the rule of their 
faith ? 

If it be the major part of the universal church, it 
is known that two to one are against them : therefore by 
that rule, their faith in the Papal sovereignty is false : 
and it would be hard, if a man must be of no belief, 
till he have brought the world to the polls for it. 



44 PREFACE. 

If all the stir that the Papists make in the world for 
the Papal government he hut to roh Christian magis- 
trates of their power, then are they hut a seditious sect. 
There are hut two sorts of government in the church: 
the one is hy the word applied unto the conscience, 
which worketh only on the willing ; either by preach- 
ing, or by personal application, as in sacraments, ex- 
communication and absolution : and this is the work of 
the present pastors, and cannot be performed by the 
Pone. The other is hy command, that shall be seconded 
with force ; which" is proper to the magistrate. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Popery corUrary to Unity. — Directums for Protestants who argue 
with Papists. — Seven arguments agamst Popery. — Popery is false. — 
Opposes Christian love. — Teaches rebellion tocivU governments. — Is an 
unholy system. — The Papists are ttoo communilies, and have two sov- 
ereign heads. — The ancient Roman church has ceased. — Popery is con- 
trary to our senses. 

The thoughts of the divided state of Christians have 
brought great and constant sadness to my soul ,* espe- 
cially when 1 remember, that while we are quarrelling, 
and plotting, and writing, and fighting against each 
other, so many parts of the world remain in the infidel-, 
ity of Heathenism, Judaism or Mohammedism, where 
millions of poor souls do need our help ; and if all 
our strength were joined together for their illu- 
mination and salvation, it would be too little. Oh 
horrible shame to the face of Christendom, that the na- 
tions are quietly serving the devil, and yet that instead 
of combining to resist him, and vindicate the cause and 
people of the Lord, we are greedily sucking the blood 
of one another, and tearing in pieces the body of Christ 
with furious hands, and destroying ourselves to save 
the enemy a labor; and spending that wit, that treas- 
ure, that labor and that blood, to dash ourselves in pieces 
on one another, which might be nobly, and honestly, 
and happily spent in the cause of God. 

These thoughts provoked me to consider, how the 
wounds of the church might yet be healed : and I have 
made it long a principal part of my daily prayers, that 
God would give healing principles and dispositions 
unto men. But the more I studied how it might be 
done, the more difficult, if not impossible it appeared. 



46 JESUIT 

because of the Roman tyranny ; the Vice-Christ or 
pretended Head of the church, being with them become 
an essential part of it, and the subjection to him essen- 
tial to our Christianity itself. So that saith Bellarmin 
de Eccles. 1. 3. c. 5. No man, though he would^ can 
he a subject of Christ, that is not subject to the Pope; 
and this with abundance of intolerable corruptions they 
have fixed by the fancy of their own infallibility, and 
built upon this foundation a worldly kingdom, and the 
temporal riches and dignity of a numerous clergy, 
twisting some princes also into their interest, so that they 
cannot possibly yield to us in the very principal points 
of difference, unless they will deny the very essence of 
their new society, pluck up the foundations which they 
have so industriously laid, and leave men to a suspi- 
cion that they are fallible hereafter, if they shall con- 
fess themselves mistaken in any thing now ; and unless 
they will be so admirably self denying, as to let go the 
temporal advantages in which so many thousands of 
them are interested. Whether so mucn light may be 
hoped for, or so much love to God, and self denial in 
millions of men so void of self denial, it is easy to con- 
jecture : and we cannot in these greatest matters come 
over to them, unless we will flatly betray our souls, 
and depart from the unity of the Catholic church. If 
we should thus cast away the truth and favor of God, 
and sin against our knowledge and conscience, and so 
prove men of 7io faith or religion, under pretence of 
desiring a unity in faith and Religion, yet all would not 
do the thing intended, but we should certainly miss of 
those very ends which we seek, when we had sold the 
truth and our souls to obtain them. For there is no- 
thing more certain, than that the Christian world will 
never unite with the Roman Vice-Christ, nor agree with 
them in their corruptions, against plain Scripture, tra- 
dition, consent of the ancient church, and the reason 
and fcommon sense of mankind. Never did the uni- 
versal church, or one half of it center in the Roman 
sovereignty : and why should they hope for that which 
never yet was done / When they had their primacy 
of place, it made the Pope no more a sovereign and a 
Vice-Christ, than the King of France is sovereign td 



I 



JVOOLIN6. 47 

the Duke of Saxony or Bavaria ; or than the senior 
justice on the hench is the sovereign of the rest : and 
yet even this much he never had hut from the Roman 
Empire. What claim did he ever lay in his first usur- 
pations to any church without those hounds ? It was 
the empire that raised him, and the empire limited his 
own usurpations. Reinerius, Cent. Waldens. Catal. in 
Biblioth. Patr. to 4. p. 773 ; saith : " the churches of the 
Armenians, and Ethiopians, and Indians, and the rest 
which the Apostles converted, are not under the church 
of Rome." In Gregory's days, ihey found the churches 
of Britain and Ireland both strangers and adversaries to 
their sovereignty ; insomuch that they could not procure 
them to receive their government, nor change the time 
of Easter for them, nor to have conimunion with them. 
In the year 614, Laurentius wrote a letter, with Mellilus 
and Justus, to the Bishops and Abbots in Scotland. 
* Wehappi»ned to enter this island, called Britain, before 
we knew them ; and believing that they walked after 
the manner of the universal church, we reverenced both 
the Britains and the Scots in great reverence of their 
sanctity. When we knew the Britains, we thought the 
Scots were better. But we have learnt by Daganus 
and by Columbanus the Abbot, that the Scots do nothing 
differ from the Britains in their conversation. For 
Daganus coming to us, refused not only to eat with us, 
but even to eat in the same house where we did eat." 
Usher. Epist. Llibern. 

The work that here I have undertaken, is this — to 
give you a few invincible arguments, which the weak- 
est may be able to use, to overthrow the principal 
grounds of the Papists ; and to detect their frauds, with 
sufficient directions for the confutation of all the Pa- 
pists in the world. 

Before I mention the grounds or cause that you must 
maintain, I must premise this advice. 

Understand what the religion is that you must hold 
and maintain. It is the ancient Christian religion. 
Do not put every truth among the essentials of your 
religion. Our religion doth not stand or fall with every 
controversy that is raised about it. That which was 
the true religion in the Apostles' days is ours now : 



48 JS8tt¥ 

that which all were baptized into the profession of, and 
the churches openly held forth as their belief. Re- 
formation brings us not a new religion, but clednseth 
the old from the dross of Popery, which by inno- 
vation they had brought in* A man that cannot con- 
fute a Papist, may yet be a Christian, and so hold fast 
the true religion. It followeth not that our religion is 
unsafe, if some point in controversy between them and 
us be questionable or hard The Papists would fain 
bring you to believe that our religion must lie upon 
some of those controversies. Perhaps you will say, 
that then it is not about religion that we differ from 
them. I answer, yes ; it is about the essentials of their 
religion, and for the preserving of -the integrity of 
ours against the consequences and additions of theirs. 
They have made them a new religion, which we call 
Popery, and joined this to the old religion, which we 
call Christianity. Now we stick to the old religion 
alone ; and therefore there is more essential to their reli- 
gion, than there is to ours ; so that our own religion, even 
the ancient Christianity,is out of controversy between us. 
The Papists do confess that the creed, the Lord's prayer, 
the Ten Commandments are true, and that all the 
Scripture being the word of God, is certainly true : so 
that our religion is granted us as past dispute. There- 
fore it is only the Papists' religion that is in question 
between us, and not ours. If you will make those 
lower truths to be of the essence of your religion which 
are not, you will give the Papists the advantage which 
they desire. 

Ifthe Papists call fdt a rule, or test of your religion, 
and ask you where thay may find it, assign them the 
Holy Scriptures, and not any confessions of churches, 
further than as they agreee with that. We know of 
no divine rules and laws of faith and life, but the Holy 
Scripture. The confessions of churches are but part of 
the Holy Scripture, or collections out of them, contain- 
ing the points of greatest weight. And if in phrase or 
order, much more in matter, there be any thing human, 
we make it not our rule, nor are we bound to make it 
good, no mofe than the writings of godly men. A 
point is not therefore with us an article of faith, beoiuse 



JtrooLtKo. 4^ 

our ehurch^d or a synod pat it into a confession, but 
because it is tbeword of God. For a council's deter- 
minations do with us differ but gradually from the 
judgment of a single man, in this respect. And there* 
fore we giro them the Scriptures only as the full doc- 
trine of our faith, and the perfect law of God. Those 
points in it, which life or death is laid upon, and God 
hath told us, we cannot be saved without, we take 
them as the essentials of our religion, and the rest as 
the integrals only. The essentials are the Baptismal 
Covenant, explained in the Creed, Lord's Prayer and 
Decalogue. 

Understand well what is the catholic church, that 
when the Papists ask yqu what church you are of, or 
call to you to prove its antiquity or truth, you may give 
them a sound dnd catholic answer. The catholic 
church is the whole number of true Christians upon 
earth ; for we meddle not with that part which is in 
Heaven. It is not tied to Protestants only, nor to the 
Greeks only, much less to the Romanists only, or to 
any other party whatsoever ; but it comprehendeth all 
the members of Christ ; and as visible, it containeth all 
that profess the Christian Religion by a credible pro- 
fession. If the Christian Religion may be known, then 
a man may know that he is a Christian, and conse- 
quently a member of the catholic church. But if the 
Christian Religion cannot be known, then no man can 
know which is the church or which is a Christian. All 
Christians united to Christ the head are this catholic 
church. 

I shall now give you some easy arguments, by which 
even the weakest may prove that Popery is but ** all 
deceivableness of unrighteousness,^^ — 2 Thess .2 .9, 10. 

I. If there be any godly honest men on earth be* 
sides Papists^ then Popery is false and not of God, 
But there be godly honest men on earth besides Papists 
— therefore Popery is false ^ and not of God. 

It is an article of Popish faith,' that there are no god- 
ly honest men on earth besides Papists : therefore if 
there be any such. Popery is false. By godly honest 
men, I mean such as have true love to God, and so are 
in a state of salyation. Their very definition of the 

5 



50 JESUIT 

church doth make the Pope the head, and confine the 
membership only to his subjects, making the Roman 
Catholic Church, as they call it the whole. But lest 
any ignorant Papist say, / may he a Roman Catholic 
without believing that all others are ungodly, and 
shall he damned, I give it you in the determinatign of 
a Pope and general council. Leo, X. Ahrog, Pragm. 
sanct. Bull, in the seventeenth general council at the 
Lateran, saitb, seeing it is of necessity to salvation, 
that all the faithful of Christ be subject to the Pope of 
Rome, as we are taught by the testimony of Divine 
Scripture, and of the Holy Fathers, and it is declared 
in the constitution of Pope Boniface VIII. Pope Pius 
II. was converted from being j^nceas Sylvius by this 
doctrine of a cardinal, approved by him at large, Bull. 
Retract. inBinius, vol. 4., p. 514. I came to the foun- 
tnin of truth, which the. holy doctors both Greek and 
Latin shew ; who with one voice say, that he cannot he 
saved that holdeth not the unity of the holy church of 
Rome ; and that all those virtues are maimed to him 
that refuseth to obey the Pope of Rome ; though he lie 
in sackcloth and ashes, and fast and pray both day and 
night, and seem in all other things to fulfil the late of 
God. So that if a Pope and general council be false, 
then Popery is felse. For their infallibiUty is the 
ground of their faith, and they take it on their uneirring 
authority. But if the Pope and a general council be 
believed, then no man but a subject of the Pope can be 
saved : though he fast and pray in 'Sackcloth and ashes 
day and night, and fulfil the law of God. It is certain 
therefore that if any Roman Catholic do not believe 
that all the world shall be damned save themselves, they 
ore indeed no Roman Catholics, but are heretics ; for 
they deny a principal article of their faith ; the infalli- 
bility of the Pope with a general council, which is 
your very foundation. 

Therefore even in the great and charitable work of 
reducing the Abassines, the Jesuit Gonzalus Roderi- 
cus in his speech to the emperor's mother laid so great 
a stress on this point, that when she professed her sub- 
jection to Christ, he told her^ that None are subject to 
Christy thai are not subject to his Vicar, Godignus 
^€ reb. Abasrin. Lib. 2. c. 18. Roderic, liter, p. 323. 




JUGGLING. 51 

Bellarmin sditb, de Eccl. I. 3. c. 5. No man though 
he would can be subject to Christ that is not subject to 
the Pope ; that is he cannot be a Christian. Therefore 
Cardinal Richlieu io\d the Protestants that they were 
not to be called Christians. Abundance more of them 
assert that Protestants cannot be saved. I now prove 
that your Pope, and council, and faith are false, and 
that others beside you may be in a state of charity and 
salvation. For you confess yourselves, that he that is 
in a state of charity, is in a state of salvation. 

If a man may know his own heart, then there are 
others besides Papists that are in charity, and are god- 
ly men : and so in a state of salvation. 

The consequence is plain by inward experience to 
every godly honest man that knoweth himself If I 
can know my owii heart, I must needs say, I love God, 
and am not void of sincere godliness and honesty. 
And that I may know my own heart I can tell also bv 
experience : for to know my own knowledge and will 
is an ordinary certain thing, if not by intuition itself 
And if a man cannot know whether he believe and love 
God or not, then no man can give thanks for it, nor 
make profession of it: for men cannot converse togeth- 
er, if they cannot tnow their own minds. Bellarmin 
confesseth that we.iiiay have a moral conjectural cer- 
tainty that wi iia^6 true love and are justified. Then 
I have a morat conjectural certainty at least, that Po- 
pery is false ; because I have at least such a certainty 
that I am not ungodly or unjustified. So that what - 
measure of knowledge or persuasion any Protestant 
hath that he is truly honest and justified, that measure 
of knowledge must he needs have, if he understands 
himself, that Popery is a deceit. 

So that hence you may gather these four conclusions ; 
That all that have any knowledge or persuasion that 
they are not ungodly, unjustified persons themselves, 
and void of the true love of God ; are quite out of dan- 
ger from turning Papists, if they understand but what 
Popery is ; and if they do not, they cannot turn to 
it, but in part. 

That n^ver any honest godly man did turn Papist] 
and this the Papists themselves will justify. For they 



52 JESUIT 

say, by a Pope and general council, that no man can 
be saved but a Papist : and they generally hold, that all 
that have charity and are justified, shall be saved if 
•they so die. So that if Popery be true, then no man 
had charity or true godliness before he was a Papist: 
and therefore never did one godly man or woman turn 
Papist. And therefore let them take the honor of their 
wicked seduced ones. What glory is it to them that 
none ever turned to them but ungodly people? 

It followeth that the Papists do not so much as desire 
or invite any godly man to turn to them. If you under- 
stand their meaning, they call you not to turn to them, 
if you are not ungodly persons. 

Hence, every one that turneth Papist, doth thereby 
confess that he was a wicked man before, and that he 
had not the least true love to God ; that he was not jus- 
tified, but a graceless wretch. 

All you that do but know or hope that you have 
any saving grace, have an argument here against 
Popery, which all the Jesuits in the world cannot 
confute. For you know your own hearts belter than 
they : and they have no way to turn you to them, but 
by persuading you that you are not what you are, and 
that you know not what you know. So that plain- 
ly this is your argument; / know^ or I have good 
jy^r suasion that I am not utterly void of charily or sa- 
ving grace ; therefore I know, or have the same per- 
suasion that Popery is false^ which determineth that 
none have charity or saving grace but Papists, 

A man may have a very strong conjecture that 
many others that are no Papists have saving grace; 
though he had no persuasion that he hath such grace 
himself: consequently he must have as strong a con- 
jecture that Popery is false. What abundance of holy, 
heavenly persons have we known of all ranks among 
ue ! Such as have lived in daily breathings after God, 
spending no small part of their lives upon their knees, 
and in the serious and reverent attendance upon God 
in holy worship, meditating day and night upon his 
law; hating all known sin, and delighting in holi- 
ness, and longing for perfection ; and living in con- 
stant temperance and chastity, abhorring the very ap- 



lUODUKO. 53 

pearance of evil, and making conscience of an idle 
word or thought, devoting their lives and lahors, and 
all they have tp God, giving all their estates to pious 
and charitable uses, except what is necessary for their 
daily bread, even mean clothing and food ; taming their 
bodies, and bringing them into subjection, and deny- 
ing themselves, and mortifying the flesh, end contem- 
ning all the honors or riches of the world, resolving 
to suffer death itself, as many of their brethren have 
done from the Papists, rather than sin wilfully against 
God and their consciences : in a word living to God 
and longing to be with him, and manifesting those long- 
ings to the very death ; grieving more at any time, if 
they have but tost the sense and persuasion of the love 
of God, than if they had lost allthe world; and would give 
a thousand worlds^ if they had them, for more of the love 
of God in their sou}s, and fuller assurance of his love 
and communion with him. As far as words, and 
groans, and tears,, and the very drift of a man's life, 
and the expending of all that he hath, can help us to 
know another man's heart, so far do we know all this 
by others, that have lived among us. And may we 
not conjecture, and be strongly persuaded that these, 
or some of these, or some one of these, was a holy, 
justified person? 

If ever you are tempted to be a Papist, look on one 
side on the lives of holy men, such as Bradford^ Glo- 
ver , Sanders/ Hooper J and the rest that laid down their 
lives in the flames in testimony against Popery; be- 
sides all the thousands that in other nations have died 
by the Papists' hands, because they durst not sin against 
God; and besides all the leiarned holy divines of other 
nations, and the millions of godly Protestants there; 
as also look upon all the godly that are now living, 
men or women, that live in most earnest seeking after 
God and serving him ; look on those about you, inquire 
of others ; read the writings of holy divines : and then 
remember, you cannot turn Papist till you have con- 
cluded that all those are damned, and are utterly void 
of saving grace and love of God. If there be but one 
Protestant that you know, or any one of all that have 
been, that you take to be in a saving state, you cannot 

5* 



54 JJE8VIT 

toossibly turn Papist, if you know ^haf you do. For 
It is essential to Popery to contradict all this. 

Is this an easy task to one that hath the heart of a 
man in his breast ? If you are not true Christians your- 
selves, dare you conclude that not one of those are true 
Christians? If you confess that you love not God 
yourselves, dare you say that among the far greater 
part of the Christians of the world, there is not one 
man or woman that loves God ? This you must say, 
if YOU will be a Papist 

jflaTty^ wha are not Papists are good Christians^ and 
consequently Popery is a deceit^ and that is the testi- 
mony of many of their own writers. I will not call 
for their testimony concerning ourselves, but concern- 
ing other churches whom they condemn as heretics, 
that are not subjects of the Pope of Rome. I will con- 
tent myself with one of many that might be cited. 
BurcharduSj that lived in the Holy Land, sailh of them 
asfolloweth, p, 325, 326 — And for those that we judge 
to be damned heretics, as the N^storians, Jacobites^ 
Maronites, Georgians, and the like, I found them to he, 
for the most part good and simple men^ and living sin- 
cerely toward God and men 

Of the Roman Catholics he saith, p, 323. — \There 
are in the Land of Promise men of eveiy nation under 
Heaven, and every nation live after their own rites: 
and, to speak the very truths t^ our own great confu- 
sion, there are none found in it, that are worse, and 
more corrupt in manners than Papists. 

He also tells us, p*. 324, that the Syrians, Greeks, Ar- 
menians, Georgians, Nestorians, Nubians, Jubeans. 
Chaldaeans, Maronites, Ethiopians, Egyptians, and 
many other nations, theie inhabit ; and that some are 
not subject to the Pope ; and others called Heretics, as 
the Nestorians, Jacobites, &,z..but there are many in those 
sects that are very sincere, know nothing of heresies : 
devoted to Christ: so that they far excel the religious 
^f Rome. So you hear an adversary's testimony. 

Well then, when a Papist can prove to me, that I 
^oye not God, contrary to my own experience of myself: 
^<1 when he can make me believe that no one of all 
%Ae holy heavenly Christians of my acquaintance, min- 



isters, dt pea|)le, are in a state of charity or justification : 
and that no one Christian on eatth shall be saved but a 
Papist, then I will turn Papist But I must so-lemnly 
profess that this belief is so difficult to me, and abhorred 
by my reason, and my whole heart, and so contrary to 
my own knowledge, and to abundant evidence, and to 
all Christiaii charity, that I think I shall as soon be 
persuaded to believe that I am not a man, and that 1 
have not the use of sense or reason, or that snow is 
black, and the crow white, as to believe this essential 
point of Popery. I should a hundred times easier be 
brought to doubt whether I have the love of God my- 
self, than to conclude all the Christians in the world 
to be the heirs of damnation. 

II. That doctrine is not true nor of God, which 
leachelh men to renounce all christian love and works 
of Christian love, towards most of the Christians upon 
earth : but so doth the doctrine of Popery ; therefore 
it is not of God, 

If their error were merely speculative, it were the 
less; but here we see the fruits of it, and whither it 
tends. J3^ this shall all men know that ye are my dis- 
ciples, if ye love one another. — John 13: 35. 

This special love is the commandment of Christ, the 
new commandment ; without this, no man can be a 
lover ot God, nor be loved of him as a member of 
Christ. 1 John^\ 11, 12, 14,23; 4: 7, 8, U, 12, 20, 

21. 2 Johns. John 13: 34; 15: 12, 17. 1 Pet. I. 

22. He that loveth not a Christian as a Christian, 
with a special love, is none of the sons of Goil. Papists 
teach ^men to deny this special Christian love to most 
Christians in the worlds They that teach men to take 
most true Christians in the world for no true Christians, 
but for heretics or ungodly persons that shall be damned, 
do teach them to deny the special love and works of 
love to most true Christians : but thus do the Papists. 
How can a man love him as a Christian or a godly 
man, whom he must take to be no Christian, or an un- 
godly man ? It is true they may yet love them as 
creatures, and so they must the devils ; and they may 
love them as men, and so they must the Turks and 
Heathens.: but no man can love him as a member of 



56 a&sviT 

Christ, whom he believe* to be no member of Christ, 
but of the devil. All Papists are bound to this unchar- 
itableness by their religion, even by the Pope and gen- 
eral councils. Christ bindeth his servants to love one 
another with a special love ; so the Pope and council 
bind the Papists not to love the most true Christians 
with a special Christian love. They cannot do"it with- 
out being heretics themselves, or overthrowing the 
foundation of Popery. 

Here you have a taste of the Popish charity, when 
they boast above all things of their charity. It is their 
horrible inhuman unchar itableness that seems to me 
their most enormous crime. Also you may see here 
the extent of their good works, which they so m»ch 
glory in. He that is bound not to love me as a Chris- 
tian, is bound to do nothing for me as a Christian. So 
that they will not give a cup of cold water to a disciple 
in the name of a disciple, unless he be also a disciple of 
the Pope : nor can they love or relieve Christ in his 
servants, when they are bound to take them as none of 
his servants: and so the special love and charity of a 
Papist extendeth to none but those of their own sect. 
Ijet them take heed lest they hear, inasmuch as you did 
it not to one of the least of ikese^ you did it not fv me. 

III. That doctrine which tiacheth men to destroy 
or undo them whom Christ hath bound them to love 
as Christians, and absolve th subjects from their alle^ 
giance to their princes, and requireth the deposing of 
them, and committing the government of their domin- 
ions to others, because they are judged to be heretics by 
the Pope ; or if they will not destroy and extripate 
such as he calleth Heretics ; that doctrine is not God. 
But such is the doctrine of Popery. 

A paper entitled An explanation of the Roman 
Catholic^ s belief and others like it seem to^ renounce 
the opinion of breaking faith with heretics, and of 
promise breaking with magistrates. It seems they 
think they owe no more obedience to their magistrates 
than they promise. But I refer the reader to what King 
James ami his defenders have said on this point, and 
now give you the words of iheir own approved general 
council the fourth at the Lateran under Innocent III. , 



JUOGltNG. 57 

as Binius and others record it. In the first chapter 
they set down their Catholic Faith, two articles of 
which are ; That no man can be saved out of their 
universal church: That the bread and wine in the sa- 
crament of the altar are transubstantiated into the body 
and blood of Christ, the appearances remaining. In 
the third chapter they say, "We excommunicate and 
anathematize every heresy extolling itself against this 
holy orthodox Catholic faith, which we have before 
exponed, condemning all heretics by what names soev- 
er they may be called — And being condemned, let 
them be left to the present secular powers, or their 
bailiffs to be punished, the clergy being first -degraded 
of their orders ; and let the goods of such condemned 
ones be confiscate, if they be laymen, but if they be 
clergymen let them be given to the churches whence 
they had their stipends. And those that are found no- 
table only by suspicion, if they do not by congruous pur- 
gation demonstrate their innocency, according to the 
considerations of the suspicion and the quality of the 
person, let them be smitten with this word of A?iat/iema, 
and avoided by all. men, till they have given sufficient 
satisfaction ; and if they remain a year excommunicate, 
let them then be condemned as heretics. And let the se- 
cular powers, in what office soever, be admonished and 
persuaded, and if it be necessary, commpelled by ec- 
clesiastical censure, that as they would be reputed and 
accounted believers^ so for the defence of the faith, they 
take an oath publicly, that they will study in good ear- 
nest according to their power, to exterminate all that 
are by the church denoted heretics, from the countries 
subject to their jurisdiction. So that when any one 
shall be taken into Spiritural or temporal power, he 
shall by his oath make good this chapter. But if the 
temporal lord, being required and admonished of the 
chuxch, shall neglect to purge his country of heretical 
defilement, let him by the metropolitan and other com- 
provincial bishops be tied by the bond of excommuni- 
cation. And if he refuse to satisfy within a year, let it 
be signified to the Pope, that he may from thenceforth de- 
nounce his vassals absolved from their fidelity, and 
may expose his country to be seized by Catholics^ who 



58 JESUIT 

rooting out the heretics, may possess it without con- 
tradiction, and may keep it in the purity of faith ; saving 
the right of the principal lord, so be it that he him- 
self do make no hindrance hereabout, and oppose any 
impediment: and the same law is to be observed with 
them that are not principal lords. And the Catholics 
that taking tde sign of the Cross shall set themselves 
to the rooting out the heretics, shall enjoy the same 
indulgences and holy privileges which were granted 
to tho3e that go to the relief of the holy land. More- 
tover we decree, that the believers, receivers and de- 
fenders, and favorers of heretics, shall be excommuni- 
cate; firmly decreeing, that after any such is noted by 
excommunication, if he refuse to satisfy within a year: 
he shall from thenceforth be ipso jure infamous, and 
may not be admitted to public offices or councils, or 
to the choice of such, nor to bear witness. And he 
shall be intestate and not have power to make a will, 
nor may come to a succession of inheritance. And no 
man shall be forced to answer him in any cause ; but 
he shall be forced to answer others. And if he be 
a judge, his sentence shall be invalid, and no causes 
shall be brought to his hearing. If he be an advocate, 
his plea shall not be admitted. If a notary or regis- 
ter, the instruments made by him shall be utterly void, 
and damned with the damned author. And so- in 
other the like cases, we command that it be observed." 
Thus they go on further commanding bishops by 
themselves, or their arch-deacons, or other fit persons, 
once or twice a year to search every parish where 
any heretic is found to dwell, and put all the neighbor- 
hood to their oaths, whether they know of any here- 
tics there, or any private meetings, or any that in life 
and manners do differ from the common conversation 
of the faithful, &c. And the bishops that neglect those 
things are to be cast out, and others put in their places 
that will do them. 

Pope Gregory 7. I. 4. Epist 7., expressly stirs up 
the people to cast of their princes, saying; "For the 
conspiracy of heretics and the king, we believe it is 
not unknown to you that are near them, how it may 
be impugned by the Catholic bishops and dukes, and 



JuoaLiKo. 59 

many others in the German parts : for the faithful of 
the Church of Rome are eome to such a number, that 
unless the king shall come to satisfaction^ they may 
openly profess to choose another king, and observing 
justice we have promised to favor them, and will keep 
our promise firm, &c." 

The sum of all is, that all that the Pope calls 
heretics, must be condemned and destroyed, and all 
kings, princes or lords, that will not execute his 
sentence and root them out, must be dispossessed of 
their dominions, and the subjects absolved from their 
fidelity, whatever oaths they had taken, and all others 
that do but favor or receive them be utterly undone. 

I fetch these things out of the very words of a general 
council confirmed by the Pope, and unquestionably ap- 
proved by them. Many ages saw this doctrine put in 
execution, when the emperors of Germany were de- 
posed by the Pope, and the subjects absolved Orom 
their allegiance. 

Perhaps some will say, that this decree was not do 
fide, but a temporary precept. When a precept requi- 
reth duty, it may be a point of faith to believe it. Pre- 
cepts are the objects of faith, at least as they are assertions 
that the thing commanded is our duty. It is an article 
of faith, that God is to be loved and obeyed, and 
our superiors to be honored, and our neighbor to be 
loved, and charity to be exercised, &c. The creation, 
the incarnation of Christ, his death, resurrection, ascen- 
sion, glorification, intercession, his future judgment, 
the resurrection of the body, &c., are all matters of fact, 
and yet matters of faith too. If practicals be not ar- 
ticles of faiih, then we have no articles of faith at 
all : for all our theology and religion is practical. Do 
Papists murder po^r Christians by thousands, and 
yet not fide divina believe that it is their duty so to do ? 
Either it is a duty, or a sin, or indifierent. If 'a sin, 
woe to their Popes and councils ; and if this be no sin 
with them, I know not why the world should be 
troubled by them with the. name of sin. If it be in- 
different, what then shall be called sin ? If they can 
swallow such camels as the blood of many thousand 
Christians, what need they strain at gnats, and stick 



60 ^EsuiT 

at private murders, or fbtnication, or lying", or slari- 
deringj any more than the Jesuit casuists do / But 
if those murders and deposing kings be indeed a duty, 
how can they know it to be so, but by believing ? In- 
deed if a general council and the Pope are to be believ- 
ed, who give it us with a Decernimus etfirmiter stat- 
uimus, then it is doubtless a point of faith : and if they 
are not to be believed, then Popery is but a mere de- 
ceit. 

But may we not be Roman Catholics though we 
join not with them in this point? Have not many 
such renounced it ? and so may we. If you renounce 
the decrees of a Pope and general council, you re- 
nounce your religion in the very foundation of it, 
and cannot be Papists; but are in the Roman ac- 
count as errant heretics as those that they have tor- 
tured and burn to ashes : though here, where they 
cannot handle you as they would do, they dare not tell 
you so. If you may renounce the decrees of a Pope 
and general council, when they say; it is a. duty, ox 
lawful to exterminate all heretics, that believe not tran- 
substantiation, and to seize upon the lands of princes 
that will not do it, and to deliver them to others that 
will, and absolve their vassals from their fidelity; if 
you may renounce them in this, why may not we re- 
nounce them in other things as groundless? 

IV. The true catholic church is_holy : the Church 
of Rome hath for many generations been unholy : 
therefore the Church of Rome was not i?L any oj 
those generations the true catholic church. 

The major proposition is an article of the creed pro- 
fessed by themselves, as much as by us ; I believe the 
holy catholic church'. 

The unholiness of the Church of Rome, I prove 
undeniably, thus: if an essentiar part of the Church of 
Rome, even its head, hath been unholy through many 
generations, then the Church of iKome hath been un- 
holy, for many generations : but an essential part, even 
the head, hath been unholy. 

Though it will not follow that the Church is holy, 
because one essential part is holy, yet it clearly follow- 
eth that the Church is unholy, because an essential 



{ATI is linholy. As it followeth ndt tnsit the Wdy is 
^ound, because tke head is sound ; yet it followeth, that 
the man, or the body is unsound or sick, because the 
head is unsound or sick. As it is not a church with- 
out all its essential parts, so it is not a holy church 
without the holiness of ail' its essential parts. 

They make the t^ope the head of -the 'Catholic 
Church, and an essential part ; which is the principill 
«otitr6ver<jy between them and the true catholics. 

Abundance of their Popes have been unholy, and 
they dare not deny it. Their own historians describe 
their impieties, and their own writers, even those that 
^re bitterest against us, do freely confess it : and gen- 
eral councils have judgeil them and cast them out. 
The number of those monsters is so great, that it 
would make a volume but to name them, and recite 
their crimes. 

Pope JioAn XXIII. was accused and deposed by 
the general council at Constance, upon seventy articles. 
The £rs% article was, that he was from his youth, a man 
ef a bad disposition, immodest, impudent, a liar, a rebel, 
and disobedient to his parents, and given to most vices ; 
and then was, and yet is, commonly taken for such a one 
by all that knew him. The second article was, how by 
simoniacal and unjust means he grew^rich. The third 
Article, that by simony he was promoted to be a car- 
dinal. The fourth article, that being legate at Bonnonia 
he governed tyranically, impiously, unjustly, being 
wholly alien from all Cbristian justice, divine and hu- 
man, &c. The fifth article, that thus he got to be 
Pope, and yet continued as bad, and as a Pagan des- 
pised the worship of God ; if he performed any, it was 
more lest he should be totally blamed of heresy and 
cast out of the Papacy, than for any devotion. The 
sixth article was, that he was the oppressor of the poor, 
the persecutor of righteousness, the pillar of the unjust 
and the simoniacal, a server of the flesh, the dregs, of 
vices, a stranger to virtue, flying from public consisto- 
ries, wholly glveti to sleep and carnal desires, altogether 
contrary to the life and manners of Christ, the mirror 
of infamy, and the profound inventor of all mischiefs ; 
80 fitr scandalizing the Church of Christ, that among 



63 lEBVlT 

Christian believers that knew his life and manners, 
he was commonly called the devil incarnate. The sev- 
enth article was, that being a vessel of all sins, repel- 
ling the worthy, he simoniacally sold benefices, l)]sh- 
oprics and church-dignities openly^ to the unworthy 
that would give most for them. 

Threescore more of those articles were all proved to 
be notorious, by cardinals, arch-bishops, prelates, and 
many more. I add a few of the last, ^hat he came 
to be Pope by causing Pope Alexander and his phy- 
sician Daniel de Sophia to be poisoned, That he com- 
mitted incest with his brother's wife, and with nuns, 
and whoredom with virgins, adultery with men's wives, 
and other crimes of incontinency, for which the wrath 
of God cometh on the children of disobedience. That 
he was notoriously guilty of murder, and other grievous 
crimes, a dissipator of the Church goods, a notorious 
simonist, and a pertinacious heretic. That often, he ob- 
stinately asserted, dogmatized, and maintained, that 
there is no life everlasting, nor any other after this^ more- 
over,he said and obstinately believed jhat the soul ofman 
doth die and is extinct with the body like the brute 
beasts, and that the dead shall not rise again at the 
last day, contrary to the article of the resurrection. 
Thereupon the council deposed him. : 

Now judge, whether the Roman Church had a lioly 
head, when it had a heathen and a devil incarnate ? 

The general council at Basil deposed Pope Eugeyiius 
IV. as being a rebel against the holy canons, a notori- 
ous disturber and scandalizer of the peace and unity of 
the Church, a simonist and a perjured wretch, incor- 
rigible, a schismatic, and an obstinate heretic. 

Pope John XIII. alias XII. was in council convicted 
of ravishing maids, wives, and widows at the Apostolic 
doors: and committing many murders. He drunk a 
health to the devil, and at dice called to Jupiter and 
Venus for help, and at last was slain in the act of adul- 
tery. Platina saith, he was from his youth a man con- 
taminated with all dishonesty and filthiness, and if he 
had anytime to spare from his lusts, he spent it in 
hunting, and not inpraying; a most wicked man or 
rather a monster. The life of that most wicked man 



JVGGLIlfO. 68 

being judged in a council nf Italian bishops ; for fear 
of them he fled and lived like a wild beast in the woods. 
At last he got the better again by the help of his friends 
at Rome, till an angry man found him with his wife, 
and ifent him to answer it in another world. Their 
own writers note that this was the first Pope that 
changed his name, whom his followers imitated. Do 
you think the head of the Roman Church was then 
holy^ 

Many others of them have been most wicked wretches, 
common^ adulterers, fornicators, and sodomites, who 
poisoned their predecessors to get the Popedom. Bar* 
onius their flattering champion saith, Annal. ad an. 
912. "What then was the facd of the holy Roman 
Church? How exceedingly filthy, when the most 
potent, and yet the most sordid whores did rule at rtome? 
by whose pleasure sees were changed, prelates were 
given, and which is a thing horrid to be heard, and not 
to "he spoken, their lovets or mates, were thrust into 
Peter's chair, being false Popes, who are not to be writ- 
ten in the catalogue of the Roman Popes, but only for 
the marking out of such times. And what kind jof 
cardinals, priests, and deacons think you we must im- 
agine that those monsters did choose, when nothing is 
so rooted in nature as for every one to beget his like /" 

Genebrard, th^ spleenish Papist, Lib. iv. Sec. x. 
saith, "in this one thing that age was unhappy, that for 
near one hundred and fifty years about fifty Popes did 
wholly fall away from the virtue of their ancestors, 
being rather irregular and apostatical, than apostolical." 
So that the Church of Rome bad not then either a holy 
or apostolical head. 

Pope Adrian VI. writeth, De Sacram. Con fir. Art. 
4, that there have many Popes of Rome been here- 
tics. Two or three several general councils condemned 
Pope Honorius for a heretic. 

If I should tell you what their own writers say of 
the wickedness oi the Roman clergy, in many ages ; 
and of the wickedness of the Roman people; of 
the large sums of money that the Pope hath yearly 
for the licensed or tolerated brothels in Rome, you 
would think that the body of the particular Roman 



^ 



ffi SMMVit 

charch was near kin to the head, and therefore not 
the holy mistreM of all churches. 

But perhaps some will say, that the Pope was holy he^ 
cause his office was holy, though his person was vicious. 
If this he the holiness of the Catholic church mention- 
ed in the creed, then the institution of offices is it that 
makes it holy, and while the office continueth, the 
holiness cannot he lost Then let them prove their 
^ holiness hy saints no more. Let them not then delude 
the people, hut speak out, and tell them that they mean 
such holiness as is consistent with heathenism, or infi-. 
delity murders, sodomy, and may he in an incarnate 
devil! Is that the holiness of the Catholic churcii? 

By this means you leave no room for the Church of 
Rome, or any Papist in the Catholic church which is 
truly holy. 

Not as Papists: they can he no members of it. But 
if with any of them Christianity he predominant, and 
prevail against the infection of Popery, so that it prac- 
tically extinguish not Christianity, then as Christians 
they may be members of the church, and be saved too 
but not as Papists. 

V . The ifut catholic church of Christ is hut one t 
the pretended Roman Catholic church is more ihan 
one : therefore the pretended Roman Catholic church 
is not the trv4i catholic church of Christ. 

1. Where there are two heaas or sovereign powers,, 
specially distinct, there are two societies, or churches. 
But those called Papists, or the Boman Cathobe 
church, have two heads or sovereign powers specially 
distinct. Therefore they are two churches. 

There are many volumes written by both sides for 
their, several forms. Bellarmin, Gretser, and the 
rest of the Italian faction assert that the Pope is 
the chief power, and above a general council, and 
the seat of infallibility, and not to be judged by any, 
being himself the judge of the whole world. The otn- 
er party aver that a general council is above the 
Pope, and that he is to be judged by them, and may be 
deposed by th^oi. If any say, thfit they are but few 
and not Irtie Papists of this opinion, I answer, then a 
(general council i^re but f^w, and not true Catholics, 



which yet Ib said by them to represent the whole 
Catholic church : for the general council of Constance 
and of Basil have premptorily asserted it, and repeat 
it over and over. The council of Basil say, Sea. 
ultim. that ''not one of the skilful did^ever doubt but 
that the Pope was subject to the judgment of a gen- 
eral council, in things that concern* faith. And that 
he cannot without their consent dissolve or remove 
a general council ; and that this is an article of 
faith, which without destruction of salvation canno^t 
be denied, and that the council is above the Pope, de 
fide, and it cannot be removed without their consent, 
and that he is a heretic that is agninst these things." 
Binius p, 43. 79, 96. Pope Eugenius owned that coun- 
cil, p. 42. For the council of Constance, Martin V. 
was chosen by it, and present in it, and personally con- 
6rmed what they did as a council, and not what pri- 
vate members did. You see that even general coun- 
cils representing the Papal church do not only say 
that a council is above the Pope, but make it an article 
of faith, and damn those that deny it. What then is 
become of Bellarmin and the rest of their champions f 

But perhaps you will say, they are but few on the 
other side, ^fot only most Popes, and the Italian 
clergy, and the predominant party of Papists, but an- 
other general council, the Lateran, under Julius II. 
and Leo X. expressly determine that the Pope is above 
a general council. So that here is not only an unde- 
niable proof that general councils are fallible by their 
contradicting each other, and that there is a necessity 
of rejecting some of them, and consequently that the 
foundation of Popery is rotten ; but also here is one 
representative catholic church against another repre- 
sentative catholic church, and one council for one spe- 
cies of sovereignty, and another for another species of 
sovereignty. So that undoubtedly it is not the ^ame 
church. 

The nations that are on both sides to this day, are 
a proof beyond denial of their division. The French 
on one side, and the Italians on the other; and other 
nations divided between both. So that the thing which 

6* 



66 ijuvtt 

they call by one name, ia two indeed. But ao i» n6i 
the true catholic church. 

2. Where there are two, three or four heads or sot* 
ereigne at once numerically distinct, there are two ^ 
three or four churches. But the Roman Church pre- 
tending to be CHtholic, hath had two or three or roar 
heads at once numerically distinct ; therefore it was 
two or three or foHr churches. 

It is not only two species of sovereignty, but two xw 
dividual sovereigns that are inconsistent with the no' 
merical unity of a political body. Two, or ten, or two 
hundred may join in one sovereignty, as one politico) 
person, but if there be two sovereigns, there are cer- 
tainly two societies: for if both be supreme, neither is 
subordinate* The Papists lay their very foundation on 
a supposed division. Peter and Paul were both at once 
their Bishops. There are not tnany of there who ven- 
ture to tell us, that Peler on\j was the supreme, and 
that Paul was under him : but they make them as 
equals, or co-ordinate ; and some of them say, that jPavi 
was the bishop of the uncircumcision, and Peter of the 
circumcision, and then Peter's church is confined to 
the Jews. And they do not tell us, that obe headship 
was divided between them: for then that example 
would direct ihem ^ill to have two Popes, or two bish- 
ops to a Church: so that Peter being a head, and 
Paul a head, they had distinct bodies. 

They cannot deny their many following divisiona. 
The twenty-third schism, as Werner a zealous Papistv 
in fasciculo tempor. reckons them was between Felix V* 
and Eugenius: of which Werner saith, that *^hence arose 
great contention among the writers of this matter, |>r» 
and contra, and they cannot agree to this day : for one 
part saitbi that the council is above the Pope, the other 
part on thp contrary saith, no, but the Pope is above 
the council. Ood grant his church peace, &e," 

Of the twenty-seaond schism, Werner saith thus, ad 
an. 1373, "The twenty-second was the worst and most 
subtle of all. For it was so perplexed, that the most 
learned and conscientious men were not able to find 
out %q whom they should adhere. And it was contin- 
ued fpr forty years to the gre^t f^andal of the whole 



ilergy, and the great loss of soals, because of heresies 
and other evils that then sprung up, and because there was 
no discipline in the church against them. And there- 
fore from Urban Y I. to Martin V. I know not who was 
Pope," 

After Nicholas' IV, there was no Pope for two years 
and a half; and Celestine V, that succeeded hira re-- 
signing it, Boniface VIII. entered, that styled himself 
lord of the whole world in spirituals and temporals, of 
whom it was said, he entered as a fox, lived as a lion, 
and died like a dog. 

The twentieth schism was great between Alexander 
III. and four schismatics, and lasted seventeen years. 

The nineteenth schism, was betweeh Innocent 1 1, and 
Peter Leonis. Innocent got the better because he 
bad more on his side. 

The thirteenth schism was between another and 
Benedict VIII. y 

The fourteenth schism was scandalous and full o^ 
tonfusion between Benedict IX. and five others, which 
Benedict was wholly vicious; and therefore being damn-^ 
ed, appeared in a monstrous and horrid shape ; his head 
and tail, were like an ass, and the rest of his body like 
a bear, saying, I thus appear, because I lived like a 
beast. In that schism there was no less than six Popes 
at once. 1. Benedict was expelled. 2. Silvester III. 
got in, but was cast out again, and Benedict restored. 
3» But being again cast out, Gregory YI. was put into his 
place ; who because he was ignorant of letters, and yet 
infallible no doubt, caused another Pope to be consecrated 
with him to perfqrm Church offices; which was the 
fourth ; which displeased many, and therefore a third 
was chosen, which was the fifth instead of the two 
that were fighting with one another; but Henry the 
emperor coming in, deposed them all, and chose Clem- 
ent II. who was the sixth of all them that were alive 
at once. 

But above all schisms, that between Formosus and 
SergiuSi and their followers, was the foulest ; such say^ 
ing and unsaying, doing and undoing there was, be- 
sides the^dtsmembering of the dead Pope, and casting 
him into the water. And of eight successors, saith 
Werner» I can say nothing observable of them ; be- 



68 ixsviT 

cause I find nothing of them bat scandal, because of 
the unheard of contention, in the holy apostolic see one 
against another, and together mutually against each 
other. 

One Pope in those contentious times, I find lived in 
some peace, and that was Silvester II. of whom saith 
Werner, Silvester was made Pope by the help of 
the devil, to whom he did homage: that all might go 
as he would have it : — but he quickly met with the 
usual end, as one that had placed his hope in deceitful 
devils. 

I now appeal to reason itself, whether this were one 
church, that for fifty years together had several heads, 
some of the people following one, and some another, 
and the most learned and the most conscientious not 
able to know the right Pope, nor know him not to this 
day. But the true catholic church of Christ is but one. 

YI. The true catholic church hath never ceased or 
discontinued, since the founding of it to this day. The 
Church of Rome hath ceased or discontinued : therefore 
the Church of Rome is not the true catholic church. 

If the head which is an essential part hath discontin- 
ued, then the Church of Rome hath discontinued^ But 
the head hath discontinued. 

1. There have been many years interregnum or va- 
cancy, when there was no Pope at all. And where 
then was the church when it had no head ? - 

2. There have been long successions of suqh as 
were not apostolical, but apostatical. . 

3. Your own Popes and councils command us to 
take such for no Popes. Pope Nicholas in his decretals, 
Caranza p, 393. saith ; He that by money or the favor 
of me'n, or popular or military tumults is intruded in- 
to the apostolical seat without the concordant and can- 
onical election of the cardinals and the following re- 
ligious clergy, let him not be taken for a Pope, nor 
apostolical, but for apostatical. And even the priests, 
he commandeth ; het no man hear mAss of a priest 
whom he certainly knoweth to have a concubine or wo- 
man introduced, Caranza, p, 395. and priests that 
commit fornication, cannot have the honor of priest- 
hood. 



JUGGLING. 69 

But our greater argument ia from the authority of 
God, and the very nature of the office. An infidel, or 
notorious ungodly many is not capable of being the 
pastor of a Church, while he is such. But the Popes 
of Rome have been infidels, and notoriously ungodly 
men: therefore they were incapable of being pastors of 
the Churchy and consequently that Church was heaa- 
less, and so no church. Where there is not the neces- 
sary matter and disposition of the matter, there can be 
no reception of the form. But infidels and notoriously 
ungodly men, are not matter sufficiently disposed to 
receive the form of pastoral power : therefore they can- 
not receive it. As every true church is a Christian 
Church, it being only a congregation of Christians 
that we so call, so every pastor is a Christian pastor: 
but an infidel or notoriously ungodly man is not a 
Christian pastor : therefore not a true pastor. Other- 
wise a Mohamedan, Jew, or Heathen may be a true Pope. 
If any disposition or qualification at all be necessary 
to the being of the pastoral office, then is it necessary, 
that he own Grod the Father^ and the Redeemer, that 
is, be not notoriously an infidel, or ungodly. 

Popes have been such as I mention. Marcellinus sac- 
rificed to an idol ; Liderius subscribed to the Arian 
profession. I believe there is a hundred times mora 
hope of their salvation by repentance, than of a hun- 
dred of their successors. Joh?t, XXU. held that the 
soul dies with the body, of which the Parisians and 
others condemned him. . John XXIII. denied the life 
to come, and so was an infidel. The witchcraft, pois-i 
onings, simony, sodomy, adulteries, incest, &c. of oth* 
era, are recorded by their own historians. 

y II. If a man may be sure, that he knoios bread to b& 
bread, and wine to be wine, when he seeth, feelelh and 
tasteth them, then he may be sure that Popery ix a deceit. 
But a man may be sure that he knoweth bread to be 
bread, and wine to be wine, when he seeth, feeleth, and 
tasteth them^ 

I speak of such a knowledge as belongs to men of 
sound sense, and a convenient object and medium. It 
is the senses of the whole world that I appeal to ; it 
it bread and wine that are near us, in the hand or 



70 ISSVIT 

moath that I speak o(, and not at a miWs distaace : in 
the day light, and not in the dark. So that take the 
hread and wine into year hand 'and judge it, and let 
that decide oar controrersr. If yon can t^ whether 
that he hread or no hread, yoi| may tell whether the 
Papists or we are in the right Those therefore that 
be not learned enough to judge hy disputations and 
writings of learned men, may yet judge by their sight 
and feeling. Either you know bread and wine when 
you see it, taste it, feel it, or you do not. If you do, 
then the controversy is at an end : for the senses of 
all sound men in the world, will be against the Pa- 
pists, that say the bread after consecration is no bread, 
and the wine is no wine. But if you cannot know 
bread when you see, feel, and eat it; 1. Then we are 
sure that the Pope and all his council is not at all to be 
trusted : for if sense be not to be trusted, then the Pope 
and his council know not when they read the Scrip- 
ture, and canons, and fathers, and hear traditions, but 
that they are deceived. 2. Then we are uncertain of 
any judgment that Pope or council can give: for when 
they spoke or wrote it, wc are uncertain whether our 
eyes and ears, or reason judging by them, are not de- 
ceived in the bearing or reading uf their words. 3. 
How ridicuk)usly then do they call for a judge of con- 
troversies 7 and what a foolish quarrel is it that they 
make, who shall be the interpreter of Scriptures, or 
judge of controversies 1 For what can a judge do 
but speak or write his mind ? and when he hath done, 
you know not what it is you hear or read, because your 
senses may deceive you. It is a far harder matter to 
understandf a sentence or book of the Pope or council 
when you read or hear it, than to know bread when 
you see, and feel it. Many thousands know bread, 
that know not the Pope's sentence, nor a word of a 
book. 4. By this rule, it is uncertain whether Scrip- 
ture be true, or Christianity the true religion. For we 
cannot know it but by our senses : and if they are so 
uncertain, all our religion must needs be uncertain. 
5. We cannot tell what revelation to desire that should 
end our controversies and make us certain. For if 
God shall send an angel or other messenger from 



JVOGLING. 71 

heaven to decide the controversies between us and 
Papists, what could he do more but speak it to us as 
from God? and we should still be uncertain of what 
we see or hear : so that we arc left incurably in our 
ignorance and controversies, if Popery be true 

Here you may see upon what terras we dispute 
with Papists, and what hope there is of its satisfying 
them. We dispute with men that will not believe their 
own senses, or senses of the world. The damned man, 
Ijuke 16. thought if one might have been sent to his 
brethren from the dead, they would have believed. 
And if Abraham say to them, if they will not hear 
Moses and the propliets, neither will they be persuaded 
though one rise from the dead ; we may say of Papists, 
if they will not believe their own eyes, and ears, and 
taste, and know not bread when they see, and feel and 
eat it, how. should they be persuaded, though one were 
sent to them from heaven to resolve them ? Can we 
think by all our arguments to make any matter plainer 
to a man than that bread is breads when he seeth and 
eateth it ? If this be uncertain to them, what can you 
prove to them, or Avhat way can you devise to deal 
with them? For indeed, if sense be uncertain, we 
have no certainty of any thing in the world. 

''But to thisj Tuberville, in his Manual of Contro- 
versies saith, substance is not the proper and immedi- 
ate object of sense, but color, quantity, &c. Nor can 
sense judge at all of substance though it be under sen- 
sible accidents, unless it be the subject of those acci- 
dents, and have a sensible and corporeal manner of be- 
ing, which the body of Christ neither is, nor hath in 
that sacrament. It hath a spiritual manner of being, 
and is' not the subject of the accidents of bread. They 
are without a subject by miracle ; therefore no wonder,' 
if sense be deceived in this matter. Here sense and 
reason must vail bonnet to faith, and submit to the au- 
thority of God revealing, and the church propounding; 
they are not competent judges what God can do by his 
omnipotence. 

Is this all that those Rabbles have to satisfy the 
world that it is not bread and wine which is seen, and 
felt, and tasted I Is this not like the rest of their 



t2 ^ iMBttf 

contradictory imagiDations ? That Christ hiith ncit k 
corporeal manner of beingf in the sac^ralneUt : and yet 
•it is not bread, but is the body that is thete : he saiitb, 
we maintain not his corporeal, but real and spiritoal 
(presence in the sacrament. So that either they affirm 
niat his body is present, aiid yet deny his bodily pres- 
etiCe, bnt not his corporeal presence. Most J@arnedly ! 
We shall at last be taught to distinguish between 
bodily and corporeal I But is not the juggle in the 
word manner ? Perhaps the corporeal presence is not 
denied, but the corporeal manner. In term it is said, 
We maintain not his corporeal presence. And can a' 
bodybej>resent and not in a bodily manner ? Ai^d why 
is spiritually, put as contradistinct ? When Paul said 
our bodies shall be raised spiritual bodies, he thought 
that they were nevertheless bodies for being spiritual ; 
and therefore it is nevertheless a bodily manner of 
presence, for being a spiritual manner. But if by 
the corporeal presence or manner denied, be meant 
nothing but the qualities and quantity by which it is 
fit to be the object of our senses, why had we not 
this plainly without juggling? To say Christ is pres- 
ent in body but not sensibly, is plainer English, than 
to say that he is present in body but not bodily present 

He calls them the accidents of bread, and yet 
saith, they are without a subject. And so doth the ex- 
planations of the Roman Catholic belief, and their or- 
dinary writers say that the body of Christ is under the 
forms of bread and wine, and yet say that bread and 
wine are none of the subject of those forms. 

He professeth transubstantiation is a miracle, and 
so every ignorant, drunken, adulterous priest of theirs 
hath the gift of miracles, which he worketh as oft 
as he consecrateth. Such miracles are the glory of 
their church, and the proof of their infallibility. 

He tells you that substance is not the proper and 
immediate object of sense, but color, quantity, &c. But is 
not the mediate object proper, as well as the immedi^ 
ate ? Be it a proper or improper object, we may yet 
believe that reason by the help of sense doth xudge as 
in&Uibly of substances as accidents. If you Slink 
otherwise, then all the forementioned consequences 



are undeniable. You know not whether the world 
aaw Christ on earth: or whether he were crucified, 
dead, bimed, rofle, or ascended. It might be but 
color and quantity which men saw ; and when Christ 
told them a spirit hath not flesh and blood as ye see 
me have, they might have answered, we see no flesh 
and blood, but color and quantity. Tkomois had then 
small reason to be coByinced by seeing and feeling, 
when he saw but color and quantity, and felt but quan- 
tity and quality. By this reasoning the world is not 
sure that ever there was a Pope of Rome, but the col- 
or of a Pope^ or other accidents. You know not that 
there is any earth under your feet, or that you are a 
man,' or have a body, because your senses perceive but 
the accidents of it. 

What manner of men did Tuber ville imagine he 
had to deal with, when he puts off his readers with 
such an answer as this f Mark the unfaithful dealing 
of these men, and how grossly they abuse poor people 
that follow them with mere dfeceits. The question or 
objection which he undertook to answer was, wheth- 
er sense telling us that it is bread afler the consecra- 
tion be deceived T To this he t-tkes on him to give 
an answer, and cunningly speaks to another question, 
and passeth this by. It is one question whether sense 
can infiEillibly discern Christ in the sacrament, if he 
were there, or discern that he is not there ? and anoth- 
er question whether sense can infallibly discern bread 
and wine, and know whether they be there? The 
last was the question in hand ; but he slyly answers to 
the first instead of it ; and tells us, that sense cannot 
judge of substance, though under sensible accidents, 
unless it be the subject of those accidents, and have a 
sensible and corporeal manner x)f being, which the body 
of Christ neither is nor hath iii the sacrament. There- 
fore Christ may be in the sacrament and you not dis- 
cern him hy sense. What is that to the question ? is 
it not the holy truth of God that you are about ? and 
should you thus abuse it, and the souls of men ? The 
question is, whether sense and the intelliect thereby be 
infallible in judging bread to be bread when we see, feel 
and eat it? Had you never a word to say to this ? to 

7 



t4 IMBtit 

persaade men that they have eyes and see not, feet not/ 
or that the world knoweth not certainly what they 
seem to know hy seeing and feeling ? Hereafter deal 
hy us as fairly as Bellarmin did, who quite gave away 
the Roman cause hy granting and pleading that sense 
is infallible ih positives : and therefore we may thence 
say, this is a hoay because I see it ; and so this is bread 
or wine because I see, feel and taste it, but not in nega- 
tives : and therefore we cannot say, this is not a body 
because I see it not. Give over talking of the Pope, 
or church, or religion, or men, if you are uncertain of 
substances which are the objects of your sense. 

But you say, sense and reason must here vail bon- 
net to faith. In the negative case let it be granted, 
and any case where faith can be faith. But if sense 
and the intellect therewith be fallible in positives, so 
that we cannot know bread when we see and eat it, 
faith cannot be faith then. What talk you of faith, if 
you credit not the soundest senses of all the men in the 
world, when sense and reason are presupposed to faith ? 
How know you that faith here contradicteth sense ? 
You will say, because the church or Scripture saith : 
this is my body : and there is no bread 7 But how know 
you that there is any such thing in Scripture? or that the 
church so holdeth / You think you have read or 
heard it : but how know you that your sense deceived 
you not ? He that cannot know bread when he fieeth 
and eateth it, is unlikely to know letters and their mean- 
ing when he seeth them. 

The simplest reader that hath honesty and charity, 
is secured against Popery by the first argument, which 
he may make good to his own soul against all the 
Jesuits on earth. And he that is unable to proceed qu 
that account, may by the evidence of this last argu- 
ment confute any Papist living, if he be a man of sense 
and reason : and having brought all our controversies 
so low, that sense itself may be the judge, it is in vain 
to use any reason with that man who will not believe 
his own eyesight, nor the sight, and feeling, and taste 
of all the world. 



« 

CHAPTER L 

Error in faUh in otie point U a perfrct confuMUm of oil Popsrg, 

I now proceed to the principal part of my task which 
is to open the deceits of the Jesuits; and to give direc- 
tions for the discovering and confutation of them, that 
you may see the truth. 

If you prove them' guilty but of any one error in 
points of belief determined by their churchy you there' 
by disprove the whole body of Popery. For you pull 
up the foundation which they build on, and the author- 
ity into which they resolve their faith. They will 
grant you, that if they are deceived by the church in 
one thing, they have no certainty of any thing upon 
the church's credit. So that if you read PauVs dis- 
course against praying in an unknown tongue, or the 
many precepts for our reading and meditating in the 
law of God, or the like, and can but perceive that the 
Popish Latin service, or their forbidding men to read 
the Scriptures, &c. is contrary hereto, or if you find 
out but any one of their errors, you cannot be a Papist, 
if you understand their profession. 

Though we know that the Scripture and all that 
is in it is of infallible truth, and that every true Chris- 
tian, while such, is infallible in the essentials of Chris- 
tianity; for else he were no Christian; yet we pro- 
fess that we knowl>ut in part, and that our own writings 
and confessions may possibly in some things be beside 
the sense of Scripture ; and there being much more 
propounded in Scripture to our faith, than what is 
of absolute necessity to salvation, we may possibly, af- 
ter our studying and praying, mistake in some things 
that are not of the essence, but the integrity of Christi- 
anity, and are necessary to the strength or comfort, 
though not to the being of a Christian. So that every 
error in their faith, destroys their grounds, and their 
new religion ; but so doth not every error of ours. 

Or to speak more distinctly; let us distinguish be- 
tween their objective faith, and our subjective faith. 
Their objective faith hath errors in it, but ours hath 




bf Anr Mm caMfaMn: te Aein is all the de- 
ef ^hcir Pcipca mmk i— fill : and ours is only 
BoIySerifdue: w^ick dHj ooatfeB to be infidliUe. 
an wzidBg^ io bat abov ham ve andenland the 
Scriftores, aad aoarkecbero«[rjaJ^liaty«tl& be right 
or moL. We laafew tbat it ia ael oaly poasible bat 
paobabie. that w are ■ iaukw i is aoMe knrer points, 
about tbe lafaaiag ef tke Scriftaves, aad yet oar foun- 
Aadjcm b still sure. Bat tbey hare coDfiMmded their 
smifidctit€ and 0^J€€Hwt fmiik r aad one belioTes it on 
thai accoant^ becaaae otben do betiere it, and so one 
age or pan do bat seek Ibr ^e ^^l of tkw faith 
ia the Actm^ fmiik of tbe other. They conclade that 
erery poim which ia of fiuth, that ii detennioed by tbe 
chorch to be sOr is of sach aeeesaky to salration that 
no man can be sared that denieth il, or that doth not 
beliere it, if safficiently propcaed. Bat we are assur- 
ed, that thoogh all that is in Seiiptaie be most true, 
yet throogh miscndeistand tag^ some points there pro- 
posed to oar ^ith may possibly be denied and disputed 
against by a true belierer ; and yet his salration not 
be oTerthrown by it. The Papiats cry ont against as 
for distinguishing between the fandamentals or essen- 
tials of religion and the integrals : bat we know it to 
be nece^ary. 



CHAPTER II. 

Thai dactrint tckkk is cm i hxry *'• Seriftwre is emmewis. 

When you have brought the matter thus &r, and see 
that if they haTC one error in faith, their whole cause 
is lost, then consider, y^kether it be passible for that 
doctrine which is so contrary to Scripture, and to it- 
self to be free from all error ? 1 . How contrary it is to 
Scripture: to forbid the reading of Scripture in a 
known tongue : their public praying in an unknown 
language: their administering to the people by the 
halves, denying them the wine, and giving them the 
bread only : their afirming men to be perfect without 



jiroe&xiro. 77 

ain in ibis life: their calling some fiins venial which de- 
serve a pardon, and yet are truly no sins : their ab- 
solute forbidding their priests to marry, and saying 
that there is no bread and wine left after the consecra- 
tion^ J^eut vi. 7, 8, 9. DetU, xi. 18, 19, 20. Isa. xxxiv. 
16. Psai.i,2. Nehem. viii. /i9sA. viii. 34, 35. il!fa//.xii. 
35. xix. 4 xxi. 16. xxii.31. JlfarA;xii, 10, 26. iic/5viii. 
28. xiii. 27. xv. 21. 1 Thess. v 27. CoLir. la Deut. 
xxxi. 11. Eph. in. 4. Matt.xxiv. 15. Rev A. 3. 2 Tim, 
iii. 16. Johny. 39. Acts xvii. 2, 11. xviii. 28. Rom. 
XV". 4. 2 Tim. iii. 15. Isa. viii. 16, 20. xl. 4. Rom. vii. 1. 
James i. 25. Hos. viii. 12. 

1 Cor. xiv. Matt xxvi. 27, 28. 1 Cor. xi. 25, 26, 
27, 28. I Cor. x. 16, Eccl. vii. 20. James iii. 2. 1 
John i. 8. Phil. iii. 12. Luke xi. 4. Deut. xii. 32. 
Oal iii. 10. 1 John HI 4. 1 .Tiwk iii. 2, 4, 5, 11, 12. 
Tit. i. 6. 1 Tm. iv. 3. 1 (fornix. 5. I Cor. x. 16. 1 
C<?r. xi.^23, 26, 27, 28. JLt;^s ii. 42. Ads xx. 7, 11. 

2. They are- contrary to themselves. Not only ser* 
eral persons, but several countries go several ways; the 
French are of one way, and the Italaans of another, 
even in the fundamentals of their faith, into which 
all the rest is resolved. Their Popes have ordinarily 
been contrary to one another in their decrees ; which 
made Platina say, following Popes do still either in- 
fringe or wholly abrogate the decrees of the former 
Popes. Erasmus saith, that Pope John XXII. and- 
Pope Nicholas are contrary one to another in their 
whole decrees, and in things that belong to matte fs of 
faith Had we no instances but of Sergius and For- 
mosus and their following partakers, it were enough. 
And Ceitstine^^ case puts Bellarmin to silly shifts. 
Their councils contradict each other. They confess 
that the Arians have had as many councils as general 
as ever the orthodox, had : and if it be only the want 
of the Pope's approbation that nuUifieth their authority, 
then let them tell us no more of councils and of all 
the church, but say plainly that it is but one man that 
they mean. 

But even their approved councils have been con- 
trary : The 8i;Lth council at Constantinople approved 
by Pope Adrian, is now confessed to have many er- 

7* 



78 minf 

TOTS. The coancil of Ncoceasftrea, confirmed by Pope 
Leo IV. and by the Nicese council, as saith the coun- 
cil of Florence ses. 7. condemned second marriages, 
contrary to Scripture. The council at Lateran under 
Leo. X. determines that the Pope is above a general 
council ; and the councils of Constance and Basil de- 
termine that the general council is above the Pope, 
and that it is heresy to deny it. 



CHAPTER III. 

Principles and Ptotf, 

If you enter into dispute with any Papist, inquire 
first what he will take for sufficient proof, arid what 
i^m7n>on principles you ait agreed on by iMch ike 
rest must be decided. Men that agree ta noikimg at all, 
are not capable of a dispute. For the princ^es m 
which they are agreed, are those that the rest most 
be reduced to. And when you have made this in- 
quiry, you shall find that the Popish way of dispu- 
ting is to forbid you to dispute, unless yoa will first 
yield the cause to them as beyond dispute: and that 
they are not agreed with the rest of the world in any 
common principles to which the difierences may be 
reduced for trial; and so there is no sort of proof 
that they will admit of as sufficient. If there be any 
ground of proof at all, it must be ; from the senses : 
or from reason: or from Scripture: or from the 
church; but they will stand to none of those. 

Begin at the bottom of all, and know of them wheth- 
er they will take that for a valid proof, which^s fetch- 
ed from sense, even from the sound senses of all men 
in the world, supposing a convenient object and me- 
dium ? If they will not take this for proof, how can 
you dispute with them? Or what proof can be ad- 
mitted, if this be not admitted? We have this advan- 
tage in dealing, even with those heathen that have blotted 
out much of the law of nature itself, that yet they will 
yield to an argument from sense. 



fiat if they would yield to the validity of this proof; 
then they give away their cause, seeing sense telleth us 
that it is bread which we see, feel, and eat after the 
consecration. They know this; and therefore they 
disown and deny that proof, 

But will they then admit of proofs from reason/ 
No, that cannot be, if proof irom sense be not admit* 
ted. For reason receiveth its object by means or oc- 
casion of the senses, and must needs be deceived if 
they are deceived. Reason hath not a principle that it 
holds £Eister, than that sense is to be credited; that 
this is white or black which my own eyes and the 
eyes of all other men do see to be so : and so that 
this is bread which we all see, and feel, and taste to 
be so. Therefore Papists tell us that reason must 
stoop to faith; that is, they will not stand to reason 
when it contradicteth the doctrine of their sect. It 
seems they are in some parts of their religion unrea- 
sonable. But I would know, whether they have any 
reason to be unreasonable. . If they have, then why 
mi^ht not our reason be valid as well as their reason 
which they bring against reason ? by which they con- 
tradict themselves. For if reason be vain, why rea- 
son they to prove its vanity or invalidity.^ But if 
they have no reason against reason, let them confess 
it, and offer us none, and then their disputes will do no 
harm. We easily yield, thit we have reason to be- 
lieve God*s revektion, about those things which we 
had no reason to believe if they were not revealed: 
and that many of those revelations are above reason, 
so far as that reason cannot discern the truth of the 
thing without them ; yea, it would rather judge the 
things improbable. But yet revelations are received by 
reason, and inform reason, and not destroy it ; nor do 
they so contradict sense or reason, as to make that cred- 
ible which sense and reason have sufficient ground to 
, judge false. ^ 

So that here we must break with a Papist, even where 
we might join in dispute with a heathen. And how 
will Papists deal with heathens if they will deny the 
proofs from sense and reason ? 

But will they stand to the validity of proofs from 



•0 imnr 

ScriploTP t No : for they tmke it to be but part of God^s 
word, 80 that we may not argue negatively, it ia not in 
the Holy Scriptnre : therefore it is not an article of faith 
or a law of God. . For they will presently appeal to 
tradition, &<. And even so much as is in Scriptare, 
thoagh they confess it to be trae, yet they confess it not 
to be by as intelligible, and will not admit of any proof 
from it but with this limitation, that you take it in that 
sense as the church take it For they are sworn by the 
Trent oath, to take it in that sense as the holy mother 
church doth hold and hath held it in, and never to take 
or interpret it, bbt according to the unanimous sense of 
the fathers. So that they most know what sense all the 
fathers are unanimous in before they can admit a proof 
from Scripture. And before that can be done, a load of 
books must be read over or searched: and when* that is 
done, they will find that most texts were never meddled 
with by most of those fathers in their writings ; and in 
those that they did me<^dle with they disagreed in mul> 
titudes, and where they agree they are not unanimous; 
and thus the Papists are sworn to belieye no sense at 
all- If they would have come down to a major vote, it 
is no short or easy matter to gather the votes. If they 
know the fathers' unanimous consent, yet must they 
have the sense of the present church too : but is it not 
ail one to make your adversary the judge of your cause, 
as the judge of your evidences and all your proofs ? 

Will they stand to the judgment of the catholic 
church ? No ; for when they deny proof from sense 
and reason, they must needs deny all that is brought 
from the church : for the church cannot judge itself 
biU on supposition of the infallibility of sense. When 
you argue from the judgment and practice of the great- 
er part of the church, they presently disclaim them all as 
heretics or schismatics, and will have no man to be a 
valid witness but themselves. The Greeks, the Ethio- 
pians, the Armenians, the Protestants, all ar^ heretics 
or schismatics save they ; and therefore may not be 
witnesses in the case. So that you see that Papists will 
admit of no proofs from sense or reason, or the suffi- 
ciency of Scripture, -or the testimony of the catholic 
church, but only from themselves. 



jtroo&mo. At 

CHAPTER IV. 

Judge of Ccntrmferslet, 

UndersUmd what the Papists ^metm when they call 
upon you for a judge of controversies. 

if you dispute with them, they ask you, who shall he 
the judge? aod persuade you that it is in vain to dis* 
pate without a liTing judge : for every man wiU be the 
judge himself; and every man's cause be right in his 
own eyes, and all the world will be still at odds till we 
are agreed who shall be the judge. 

1. You may easily observe that this is the plain drift 
of all, to persuade you to make them your judges, and 
yield the cause instead of disputing it. For it is no oth- 
er judge but themselves that they will admit. Yield 
first that the Pope or his council is the judge of all con- 
troversies, then it is folly to dispute against them : sb 
that if you will yield them the cause first, they will 
then dispute with you after. 

The necessity of a judge is a pretence : for it is against 
ail reason and experience to think that all inquiries or dis- 
putes are vain, unless there be a judge to decide the 
case. A judge is a luling decider ; not to satisfy men's 
minds, so much as to preserve order, and peace, and 
justice in society. But there are thousands of cases 
to be privately discussed, that we never need to bring to 
a judge. Every husbandman, or tradesman, or naviga- 
tor, or other artificer meets with doubts and difficulties in 
his way which he laboreth to discern, and. satisfieth 
himself with a judgment of discretion without a ruling 
judge. We eat and drink,- and clothe ourselves, and fol- 
low our daily labors without a judge, though we meet 
with controversies in almost all. Men marry, and build, 
and buy, and sell, and take physic, and dispatch their 
greatest worldly business without a judge. Judges are 
only for such controverted cases as cannot well be decided 
without them, to the attaining of the ends of govern- 
ment. 

2. Is it not asainst the daily practice of the Papbts 
to thinjc or say uiat all disputes and controversies must 



82 MMBvir 

have a judge f Who ig the judge between the nominals, 
reals, aod formalists, the Douunicaus, Franciscans and 
Jesuits, in all those controversies which have cartloads 
of books written on them ? Their Popes or councils 
dare not judge between them. Do they not daily dis- 
pute in their schools among themselves without a judge 1 
and still write books against one another without a judge t 
3. Understand weU the use and differences of judg- 
ment The sentence is but a means to the execution : 
and judges cannot determine the mind and will of man : 
but preserve outward order, if men will not see the truth 
themselves. The Jesuits that are so eager for free will, 
should easily grant that the Pope by his definition can- 
not determine the will of man. They sc^ that heretics 
remain heretics, when the Pope hath said all that he can : 
and if be can cure them all by his determinations, he is 
much to blame that he doeth not. If a man's mind can 
be settled, an infallible teacher is fitter than a judge. 
Judgment then being for execution, when you ask, who 
shall be the judge ? I answer, judgment is either total, 
absolute and final : or it is only to a certain particular 
end, limited and subordinate, from which there is an ap- 
peal. In the former case, there is no judge but Christ, 
and the Father by him. No absolute decision can be 
made till the great judgment come ; and then all will 
be fully and finally decided. And for the limited pres- 
ent judgments of men, they are of several sorts accord- 
ing to their several ends. When the question is, who 
shall be corporally punished as a heretic 1 the magistrate 
is judge : for coercive punishment being his work, the 
judgment must be his also. But when the question is, 
who shall be excommunicated as a heretic ? as God's 
law hath told us who, so is the rule of decision about in- 
dividuals. To try individual persons, and cases accor- 
ding to this law, belongs ^to the governors of the church : 
but not to the governors of other churches a thousand 
miles off, that never received such an authority, and are 
not capable of the work : but to the governors of the 
church in which the party hath communion, and into 
which he shall at any time intrude and se^ communion. 
All men have a judgment of discerning that are concern- 
ed, in the execution. 



So thai if a disputing Papist will say that his business 
is not to dispute with you, but to excommunicate^ or 
bang, or bum you for a heretic, then I confess there 
is all the reason in the world that you should first 
agree upon the judge. But why the Pope should be the 
judge, I know not^ 



CHAPTER V. 

End of coniroverty. 

Papists tell you, that in their way there is an end of 
controversies J but in yours there is none : for if you will 
not stand to One^s judgment as infallible, you may dis^ 
pute as long as you live before you come to an end, 

lu discussing this part of the deceit :^1. We confess 
that on earth there will be no end of all controversies among 
the best : nor of the great controversies which salvation 
lieth on, between the believers and unbelievers : that is, 
there will be still infidelity and heresy in the world, and 
error in the godly themselves. Hath it not been so in 
every age till now ] And why should we expect that 
it should now be otherwise 1 Doth not Paul tell us that 
here we know but in part, and prophesy in part 1 and 
that which is imperfect will not be done away, until that 
which is perfect is come ^ While we know but in part, 
we shall differ in part. . 

2. Hath your way put an end to controversies any 
more than ours 1 Are you not yet at controversy with 
infidels, whether Christ be the Redeemer, and with here- 
tics whether he be true eternal God ? Are you not yet 
as full of controversies among yourselves, as any Chris- 
tians on the face of the earth 1 In the many volumes of 
your schoolmen, casuists, and commentators, I can shew 
more controversies yet depending, than you can find 
among all Christians in the world together. 

3. Is there any thing in your way that better tendeth 
to the deciding of controversies than in ours ? Con- 
trarily, you have made more controversies than you have 
ended. We have a certain infallible rule to decide 



84 asmiT 

ovc controTeniea by* such as you confess yourselves 
to be infallible; even the Holy Scriptures. But yon 
have an uncertain nile, even the decrees of your Popes 
and councils, and the many volumes <^ the fathers, 
which are at odds among themlBelves ; your very rule is 
self-contradicting, and your judges are together by the 
ears. Our Faith consisteth in those points which are 
granted by yourselves, and so are beyond controversy 
between us and you. But yours lieth in a mixture of 
men's corruptions, which will ever be controverted and 
condemned. Our Faith consisteth in tlie few ancient 
articles by which the church was always known as to 
its essentials. But you confound the essentials with the 
integrals : and the number of your necessary articles is 
so great, as must need be matter of more controversy 
than ours. ^ 

4. We know our religion, and where to find it. It 
was perfect at the first, and receiveth no additions or 
diminutions. One generation Cometh, and another goetb, 
but the word of the Lord endureth forever. But you 
never know when you have all, because yon know not 
when your Pope will have done defining. That is an 
article of faith to you one year that was none the year 
before, nor ever before. 

5. We need no judge to decide any controversies 
among us in the points of absolute necessity to salvation: 
both because the Scripture is so plain in those points, as 
to serve for decision without a judge ; and because we 
abhor to make a controversy of any of them ; and where 
there is no controversy there needs no judge. We are 
all agreed, through the plainness of the Scripture, that 
there is but one, eternal, most wbe, and good, and om- 
nipotent God : and that there is one Mediator between 
God and man, who is himself both God and man, that 
was crucified, dead, buried, went to Hades^ rose again, 
ascended, intercede th for us, and is king and head of 
the church : and will raise the deadt and judge the 
world, some to heaven, and some to hell. Thi3se and 
all the rest of the essentiats^ of our faith, and many more 
points that are not essentials, are so plain in Scripture, 
that we are past making them a matter <^ controversy. 
If any man dei^ an essential point of faith, ho is none 



JudouNa. 85 

at us. But you ue so deep in infidelity^ that you must 
bave a judge to decide your controyersies in the neces- 
sary articles of faith. For whatever is of faith you 
make to be of such equal necessity, that you deride 
oui^ distinguishing the fundamentals from the rest. Do 
you think Christians need a judge, or must put it to a 
judge to decide, whether Christ be the Mesnas or not ? 
whether he died and rose again or not ? whether he will 
judge the world or not ? If he be a judge, he must 
have power to oblige you to stand to his determination 
on whith side soever he determine. And if John 
XXII. determine that the soul is not immortal, or John 
XXIIIi .that there is no resurrection or life to come, but 
a man dieth like a beast : would you stand to that de- 
cision? 

6. If you say that your judge hath power to oblige 
you only on one side, that is, when he judgeth right, and 
so make no judge of him, but a teacher, we have such 
judges as well as you, even teachers to show us the evi- 
dence of truth. 

7. If you say that you have a judge to determine of 
heresy in order to excommunication, so have we ; even 
the pastors of the churches, who are bound to unite and * 
assist each other in such works. What is to be account- 
ed heresy, the law of God sufficiently determineth : and 
what particular persons are to be judged heretics apd 
excommunicated according to that law, the particular 
pastors that are on the place can better decide, than a 
Pope that is a thousand, or five thousand miles off, and 
cannot hear the witnesses. And do you not yourselves 
decide almost all such cases of your subjection, by the 
present priests and prelates, and not by the Pope 1 And 
why may not we do so then as well as you ? 

8. But you lay all upon your Pope's and council's in- 
fallibility. Believe that infalibility if you can. I should 
think' myself a miserable man, if I were not myself more 
infallible than your Popes have been. Every Christian, 
while such, is infallible in his belief of the Christian 
faith; and the Scripture is an infallible ground of our be- 
lief. 

9. Is it not a plain judgment of God upon you, that 
while you make the Scripture so dark and not intelligi- 



86 it§tjtr 

ble, and cry up the necessity of a living judge ; yotf 
should not only swarm with differences among yourselves, 
but should be utterly dbagreed, and at a Toss to know 
who ir that judge of controversies ; one saying it is the 
Pope, and another that it is the council : and what the 
better are you for saying, there must be a judge, as long 
as you cannot tell who it must be ? It is not only un- 
certain among you, whether Pope or council be the in- 
fallible judge, but also which is a true Pope, and which 
is a lawful general council T For forty years at least to- 
gether the church could not know the true Pope, but 
the more learned and upright men were divided : nor is it 
known to this day. Frequently the strongest carried it, 
and success was his best title. General councils them- 
selves knew not the right Pope. The council at Con- 
stance and Basil knew not the right Pope. They at 
Basil thought Felix V. the true Pope, and Eugenius no 
Pope : but friends and strength confuted a general 
council, and proved that Eugenius was the Pope. Who 
knows which council to take for authority? What cata- 
logues have you of reprobated councils, and of doubtful 
councils, and partly approved, partly reprobate, and 
who knows which and how far ; but only that is approv- 
ed, that pleaseth the Pope, and that reprobate that dis- 
pleaseth him, and yet perhaps approved by a former 
Pope. So that you are all confusion and uncertainty 
about your true Popes and general councils. 

What a loss are you at to know their decrees and ca- 
nons? What a fardel of false decretal epistles have you 
thrust upon the world ; decretals that use a translation 
of the Scripture that was formed a long time after the 
death of the supposed authors of those epistles. Decre- 
tals which make mention of persons and things that 
were many score hundred years after the death of the 
feigned authors. Those are your new Scriptures^, and by 
those our faith must be regulated, and our controver- 
sies decided. 

Your canons are uncertain. Some have but twenty 
canons of the first general council at Nice : and others 
have the new found rabble of additions. Much more 
uncertainty or certain forgery there is in the canons 
called the qpostlet. , 



Ytir66LlNO> 87 

I appeal to all the impartial reason in the world, wheth* 
er your yoluminous, apocryphal uncertain faith that 
needs a living judge, and cannot find one, or agree upon 
him, that leaves your controversies still undecided, be a 
liker way to peace and nnity, than our short and plain 
articles and -infallible Scripture faith, that hath less mat- 
ter of contention, and better means to prevent it, even 
faithful teachers and judges in every church and com- 
monwealth, which shall so far determine as may preserve 
the peace of those societies, leaving the final full decis- 
ion of all to the eternal judge that is even at the door. 

10. Is not God's hand of judgment yet more obser- 
vable against you, that when your Popes and councils 
have passed their judgment, the several sects are unable 
to understand them? Witness the sentence against the 
Jansenists, of which the persons that seem to be condemn- 
ed, say, that there is no such thing or words in all Jan- 
senius' writings, as the Pope saith are in him, and con- 
demneth as his : and the controversy is as far from a de- 
cision, as if the Pope had held his peace. Your great 
disputer White, is the same, for all the Pope's determi- 
nation. 

Take another instance, whether the Pope or council 
be supreme ? The councils of Constance and Basil de- 
termined it one way as of faith, and yet that made no 
end of the controversy. The council of Lateran and 
Pope Leo X. determined it the other way ; and yet it 
is a controversy after two contrary decisions : and some 
say one way, some the other : and others say, it is yet 
undecided, for fear of angering the French by casting 
them off as heretics. The council at Basil, sess, 36., fully 
.determined the controversy between the Franciscans and 
Dominicans about the Virgin Mary's immaculate concep- 
tion : and yet it is undetermined still ; and White affirms, 
that certainly there is no tradition for it, nor any proba- 
bility that ever the negative will be defined. Apolog, 
for tradit p. 64, 65, 66. He carrieth it as boldly out, as 
if no council had made or meddled with it. The words 
of the council are these: *^A hard question hath been 
in divers parts, and before this holy synod, about the 
conception of the glorious Virgin Mary, and the begin- 
ning of her sanctification ; some saying that the Virgin 



88 JESUIT 

and her soul were for some time or instant of time actu- 
ally under original sin : others on the contrary, saying, 
that from the beginning of her creation, God loving 
her, gave her grace by which preserving and freeing 
that blessed person from the original spot, &^. We, 
having diligently looked into the authorities and reasons, 
which for many years past have in public relation on 
both sides been alleged before this holy synod, and 
having seen many other things about it, and weighed 
them by mature consideration, do define and declare, 
that the doctrine affirming that the glorious Virgin 
Mary, the mother of God, by the singular preventing and 
operating grace of God, was never actually under origi- 
nal sin, but was ever free from all original and actual 
sin, and was holy and immaculate, is to be approved, held 
and embraced of all catholics as godly and consonant to 
church worship, catholic faith, right reason, and sacred 
Scripture : and that henceforth it shall be lawful for no 
man to preach and teach the contrary." Is not this 
plain defining? 

But it is said, that was not an approved council. It was 
owned by Pope Eugenius himself. The council of 
Basil was approved by the Pope : for Pope Felix V. 
one of the best Popes that ever Rome had for a thous- 
and years past, approved it in this point : not only by 
accepting their election, but in express terms "professing 
firmly to hold the faith of the councils of Constance and 
Basil, and to keep it inviolate to a tittle, and confirm it 
with his soul and blood : promising faithfully to labor to 
defend the catholic faith, and for the execution and ob- 
servation of the decrees of the councils of Constance 
and Basil, swearing to prosecute the celebration of gen- 
eral councils, and confirmation of elections, according to 
the decrees of the holy council of Basil," sess, 40. If 
they say that Felix was not a true Pope : then Martin 
V. chosen by the council at Constance was no true Pope ; 
and then where is your succession ? These things are 
plain and cannot be denied, though unconscionable 
shifters, that argue according to their wills, may find 
words to beguile the simple. 

Hence your catholic church representative is pothing 
if one man like it not« 



JireoLiire. 89 

How largely hath the council of Trent dealt about 
original sin : and yet the foresaid White saith, that .^^If 
the people were tat^t that original sin is nothing but a dis* 
position to evil, or a natural weakness, which unless 
prevented brings infallibly sin and damnation : and that 
in itself it deserves neither reproach nor punishment, as 
long as it proceeds not to actual sin, the heat of vulgar 
devotion would be cooled, dix/' which is a mere Pelagian 
issue of all the determinations about original sin, which 
tbey swear to believe. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Papal UnUy. 

You may thus see what to think of their glorying in 
their unitffj and accusing our divisions. One of the 
principal arguments that they prevail by, is by tel- 
ling the people into how many sects we are divided. 
That the catholic church is but one ; but we are many. 
And they will tell you of all the names they can reckon 
up ; and that all the division comes by departing from 
the Roman Church ; every man being left to foe of what 
religion his fancy leadeth him to, for want of an univer- 
sal judge of controversies. They ask you what reason 
you have among all those sects to believe one of them 
rather than another 'i So they would persuade you that 
there is no way for unity but by turning Papists, that 
we may be united in the Pope of Rome. 

1. To all that deceit, we give them a full answer. It is 
not every kind of unity that is desirable : but unity with 
truth, and honesty, and safety. It is easier to agree in 
evil than in good : for evil findeth more friendship with 
corrupted nature, and hath more servants in the world. 
The wicked sure more agreed, and far more in number, of 
one mind, than the godly are. The Mohammedans are 
far more agreed ; and in a far greater number, than 
the Papists are. The devils have some agreement in 
their way. They are all agreed to hate Christ and his 
members, and to seek night and day whom they may 

8* 



^0 ' SMVtt 

jdeTOur. tt is easier te agree in a Papist's work ttian k 
ours. To center carnally in a sinful^ and a most wicked 
man. To agree in certain forms and ceremoniesf wbicfa 
flesh and blood are glad to delode fkefnselyes with, instead 
of the life of faith and love. It is easj to agree in such 
b carnal religion. To spare the labor and time of study 
and searching after truth, and to east their soub upon 
the faith of others, even the Pope or a council ; that is 
an easy thing for lazy ungodly men to agree in. But to 
make the truth our own, and get the law of Christ 
written in our own hearts, and to live upon it, and walk 
in the light, and embrace all those truths that are most 
against our fleshy inclination and interest, i^ not so easy 
for corrupted nature to ageee upon. 

2. Christ has told us that it is aiittle flock to whom he 
gives the kingdom, Luke 12. 32., and that the gate is 
strait, and way narroit^ that leads to life, and few there 
be that find it; and the gate is wide and the way broad 
that leads to destruction, and many there be that enter 
at it. And therefore it is no great wonder if error and 
sin have the greater numberr 

3. There is a far more excellent unity and concord 
among the true reformed catholics, than among the Pa- 
pists, who do but cheat poor souls with the false pretence 
of unity. 

They are utterly divided and disagreed about that 
very power in which they should unite, and which tliey 
pretend must harmonize them in all other things. One 
half of them are for the sovereignty of a Pope, and 
the other of a general council ; and that as a point of 
faith. So that there is no possibility of union with them, 
who are divided in the very point in which they invite 
us to unite with them. If the eye be dark how shall 
the body see ? If they cannot agree about that power 
that they say must unite them in all things else, what 
hope is there of an agreement with them? 

But for our parts we are all agreed that Christ only 
is the head of the church, and in him we all unite* 

With us, they are but some few half-witted self-con- 
ceited novices that fall ofl* and disagree from us in any 
thing that destroyeth salvation. But with the Papists, 
princes are against princes, and nations against nations. 



svaattno* 9! 

khA miich more, general councils against general coun- 
cils, even in the foundation of their faith. So that let 
the general councils be never so full and learned, and 
justly called, yet if they be against the Pope's sever- 
eignty over them, the other party call them but false 
councils and conventicles. Of how great moment this 
difference is, let Cajetan be a witness, who in his ora- 
tion in the council at the Lateran, under Leo. X. in- 
veighing against the councils at Pisa, Constance and Ba- 
sil, makes one to be Babel, and the other Jerusalem. 

Papists are divided into two several pretended church- 
es, by making themselves two sovereigns : but so are not 
we: for we have but one head Jesus Christ. That they 
are two churches, hear the words of Cajetan, Bin. p. 552. 
*' This novelty of Pisa sprung up at Constance, and 
vanished. At Basil it sprung up again and exploded. 
If you be men, it will also be repressed as it was under 
Eugenius IV. For it cometh not from heaven and there- 
fore "will not be lasting. Nor doth it embrace the prin- 
cipality of that one, who is in the church trumphant, and 
preserveth the church militant ; and which the Synod of 
Pisa ought to embrace if it came from heaven, and not 
as it doth, to rely on the government of a multitude. 
The church of the Pisans therefore doth far differ from 
this church of Christ. For one is the church of believ- 
ers ; the other of cavillers. One of the household of 
God ; the other of the erroneous. One is the church 
of Christian men : the other of such as fear not to tear 
the coat of Christ, and divide the mystical members of 
Christ from his mystical body. " This was spoken in 
that Council with applause. Can there be greater divi- 
sions than those 1 

4. They have been -utterly divided about the very 
power of choosing their Pope, in whom they must unite. 
In one age jhe people chose him. In another the 
clergy chose him. Sometimes both together. For a 
long time the emperors chose him. At last, only the 
cardinals chose him. Sometimes a general council hath 
chosen him. Our catholic church hath no such uncer- 
tain head, but one who is the same yesterday, to day, 
and forever. 

5. They have often had two or three Popes at once. 



02 1180 IT 

and one part of the church followed one, and another 
the other. For forty years together, none knew, the 
true Pope. Cajetan saith ; ^Of the schism of that time 
there were three so accounted Popes, that none of them 
might be esteemed the successor of Peter, either certain, 
or without ambiguity.'* For many ages one part ran after 
one, and the other after the other, or strove about them. 
But we are all agreed in our head without controversy. 

6. They killed multitudes of persons in their divisions 
about the choice of their Pope, as in the choice of Da- 
masus. They had many bloody wars to the dividing of 
the church about their Popes, and between Pope and 
Pope. That was their unity. It would make a Chris- 
tian ashamed and grieved to read of the lamentable wars 
and divbions of Christendom ; between and about their 
Popes. 

7. Popes and christian emperors, kings and princes, 
have been in long and grievous wars. 

8. They have set princes against princes, and nations 
against nations, in wars about the causes of the Popes 
for many ages together. 

9. They have set kings and their own subjects to- 
gether in wars, as all Christendom have known by sad 
experience. 

10. They have excommunicated princes, and encour- 
aged their subjects to expel them, and to murder them : 
hence were the inhuman murders of- Hexury III. and 
Henry IV. kings of France ; and the powder plot, and 
many treasons in England. That is their unity.- 

11. They center and unite the Church in an impotent, 
insufficient head, that is not able to do the office of a 
head, and therefore cannot possibly preserve unity. But 
our head is all sufficient. 

12. They set up not only a controverted head, which 
all the churches never agreed to, nor ever will do, but 
also a false usurping head, in whom the churches dare 
not and ought not to unite. Whereas Jesus Christ is 
beyond controversy the just and lawful head of the 
church. 

13. Your agreement and unity are with none but your 
own sect : and is this so great a matter to boast of 1 You 
divide yourselves from the catholic church, and cast 



Jt7QGLING. 93 

them off as heretics, or schismatics ; and then boast of a 
unity among yourselves. If you magnify your unity 
from tlie greatness of your number that agree, the Greek 
church also is numerous : and yet in this we far exceed 
you. For the true catholic is in union with all the mem- 
bers of Christ on earth. We lay our unity on the es- 
sentials of Christianity, and so are united with all true 
Christians in the world ; even with many of them that 
reproach us : when you laying your unity on many doubt- 
ful points, which you know not what yourselves, can 
extend it no farther than to your sect. Which is the 
more notable and glorious unity ? to be united to the tru- 
ly catholic body, containing all true Christians in the 
world, or to be at unity with a sect, which is the lesser 
and more corrupted part of the church 1 

14. With what face can Papists glory in their unit}^ 
that are the greatest dividers of the church on earth? 
Who is it that condemneth the greatest part of the chiu-cb, 
and prosecuteth that condemnation with fire and sword, 
or so much vehemence, as the Papists do ? when they 
have most audaciously divided themselves from all oth- 
ers, and arrogated the title of catholics to themselves, 
they call this abominable schism by the name of unity. 
If you say that the reformers have divided themselves 
from others : I answer, not as from heretics, or no mem- 
bers of the same body with us, as you do i but only 
from unsound brethren : and therefore properly we are 
not divided from th^m, but only from their mistakes. 
We think it not lawful to join with the dearest brethren 
in sinning, or in that worship, by personal local com- 
munion, where we cannot keep our innocency. But we 
hold the the unity of the spirit with them in the b'ond of 
peace : and are one with them in all the substance of 
Christianity, and holy worship, Even where distance of 
place, or circumstantial differences keep us from com- 
munion in the same assemblies ; yet our several assem-* 
blies have communion in faith, and love, and the sub- 
stance of«^worship as to the kind : so that our divbion 
from other Christians is nothing to the Papists. 

15. But when any differ from us in any point essen- 
tial to Christianity, they are none of us, nor owned by us ; 
aad therefore you cannot say that we are at difference 



I 



94 JESUIT 

among ourselves, because some apostates have fallen off 
from us. You will not allow us to say, you bave many 
sects, because some of you have turned socinians, or be- 
cause thousands of yours have turned to the reformers, in 
the days of Luther, Calvin, d^e. And why then should 
those sects be numbered with those that are not of us, 
but went out from us 1 If men turn infidels, ^c, they 
are not of us no more than of you. If you say that we 
bred them : I answer no more than you breed them, 
when they turn to the same sects from you : and no 
more than you bred the Lutherans. They went out 
from you and yet you bred them not : but on the other 
side, you cherish those as part of your church, who 
differ from you in your fundamentals ; so that the Pope 
dare not unchurch or disown them. 

16. Our unity is in positives, and theirs is in nega- 
tives. Ours is a unity in faith, and theirs is in not be- 
lieving the contrary. Dead men have a fuller unity in 
the grave than Papists have. White's "Way to the true 
church." Sect. 53. 

17. Our union is divine, having a divine head and 
centre, and divine doctrine and law in which we agree. 
But the Papists' is human, having a carnal head and cen- 
tre, and human decrees and canons for its matter and rule. 

18. They have not so sure a means of retaining men 
in their unity as we have : for where one hath forsaken 
our unity and communion, hundreds if not thousands, 
have forsaken theirs ; as France, Belgium, Germany, 
Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Transylvania, 
England, Scotland, Ireland, &c. can witness ; and if 
themselves might be believed, the Greek church, and all, 
or almost all the Christians else in the world have gone 
from their unity. Yet will they glory in the efTectual- 
ness of their means of unity ] Why then did they not 
retain all those nations in their unity ? 

19. They have very little religious unity at all among 
them ; for force and terror keep men in their church. 
Who can tell under such violence how many stick to 
them in conscience and willingly ? He that will forsake 
their religion in Spain is tormented and burnt at a stake, 
and in other countries where they have . full power, he 
must be at least undone. So that theirs ii a unity of 



bodies more than of minds: and their union is not pro- 
cared by the Pope as Pope ; but by tlie temporal sword, 
which the Pope hath usurped over some countries, and 
which deluded princes use by his persuasion in other 
countries. What a juggling deceit then is this, to per- 
suade poor souls, that the only way to unity is to cen^ 
tre in die Pope of Rome, as the most effectual means of 
ending differences ! when in the mean time they make 
so litUe use of it, and place so little confidence in it 
themselves, but uphold their unity by the magistrate's 
sword ? Besides that force, it is the riches and prefer- 
ment of their clergy, with their immunity from secular 
power, and the like, that is the means of their unity. 
But it is the light of Holy Scrip! nre opened by a faithful 
ministry, and countenanced by Christian magistracy 
without tyranny, that is our means of unity. ' 

If the Papal headship be so effectual a means of unity 
as they pretend, and if they are so much of a mind as 
they say, let them give us leave to preach twelve months 
in Spain and Italy if they dare : or let them give men 
leave without fire oi^ sword to choose their religion. 

20. After all their tyranny, {hey have more difference 
among themselves than we have, or than all the Chris- 
tians in the world. To hide the infamy of their differ- 
ences, they tolerate them, and extenuate them. For 
differences in disciplincy and order of worship, they al- 
low abundance of sects called orders, that men and wo- 
men may chose which they please. The voluminous 
differences of their schoolmen, casuists and commenta- 
tors, they say 'are not-in matters of faith. But call 
them what you will, they are greater differences than 
are with us. Read "The Mystery of Jesuitism," and take 
notice of the differences between the Jesuits and the 
Jansenians. 

Filiutius the Jesuit holds, that *'if a man have purpose- 
ly wearied himself with satisfying a prostitute, he may 
be dispensed with from fosting on a fasting day, and he 
is not obliged to fast." The Jansenians think otherwise. 

The Jesuits Basilius, Pontius, and Bauny leach, that '*a 
roan may seek an opportunity of wilfully sinning, when 
the spiritual or temporal concernment of ourselves or our 
neighbors inclineth him thereto." The Jansenists think 
the contrary. 



06 iKStJlt 

Eman. Sa the Jesuit holds, that ^'a man maj do tykat 
he conceives lawful according to a probable opinioo, 
though the contrary be the more certain : and for this 
the opinion of one doctor is sufficient" Filiutius the 
Jesuit held, ^*that it is lawful to follow the least 
probable opinion, though it be less certain; and that 
this is the common opinion of modern authors.*' The 
Jansenists are against it. 

Layman the Jesuit holds, that '4f it be more favora- 
ble to them that ask advice of him, and more desired, 
it is prudence to give them such advice as is held pro- 
bable by some knowing person, though he himself be 
convinced that it is absolutely false.'* The Jansenists 
are against this. 

Bauny the Jesuit holds, *Hhat when the penitent foi« 
lows a probable opinion,^ the confessor is bound to ab- 
solve him, though his judgment be contrary to that of 
the penitent : and that he sins mortally if he deny him 
absolution." The Jansenists deny this. ' 

Reginald and Cellot hold, that *Hhe modern casuists 
in questions of morality are to be preferred before the 
ancient fathers, though they were nearer the apostles' 
times." The Jansenists think otherwise. 

Pope Gregory XIV. declared that murderers are un- 
worthy to have sanctuary in churches. But the Jesuits 
and Jansenists agree not who are the murderers. The 29 
Jesuits in their Praxis p. 600. by murderers understand, 
"those who have taken money to kill one treacherously: 
and that those who kill without receiving any reward, 
but do it only to oblige their friends, are not called mur- 
derers." The Jansenists think otherwise. No marvel 
if you cannot understand the Scripture without a judge, 
when you cannot understand your judge, what he means 
by a murderer. Crashaw's "Religion of Rome as bad 
as ever." 

Vasquez the Jesuit saith, "that in this question, rich 
men are obliged to give alms out of their superfluity ; 
though the affirmative be true, yet it will seldom or nev- 
er happen, that it is obligatory in point of practice," The 
Jansenists think otherwise. 

Valentia the Jesuit, and Tanner hold, that "if a man 
give money not as the price of a benefice, but as a motive 



JUGOLtNO. 97 

to resi^ it, it is ndt simony, though he that resigns do 
look at the money as his principal encL" The Jan« 
senists think otherwise. 

(vaspar Hurtado saith, ^'^that an incumbent may with* 
out mortal sin wish the death of him that hath a pension 
out of his living, and a son his father's death ; and may 
rejoice when it happens, so it proceeded only from a ' 
consideration of the advantage accruing to him thereby, 
and not out of any personal hatred/* The Jansenistal 
believe it not. 

Layman the Jesuit, and Peter Hurtado think, that a 
man may lawfully fight a duel, accepting the challenge to 
defend his honor or estate. The Jansenists think other- 
wise. 

Sanchez and Navarrus allow a man "to murder his 
adversary secretly, or despatch him at unawares to avoid 
the danger of a duel." Molina thinks '^you may kill one 
that wrongfully informs against us in any court." Regi- 
naldus ; "that you may kill the false witness which the 
prosecutor brings." Tannerus and Emanuel Sa, that 
"you may kill both witness and judge which conspire 
the death of an innocent person." So think not the Jan- 
senists. 

Henriquez saith, "one man may kill another who 
hath given him a box on the ear, though he run away 
for it, provided he do it not out of hatred or revenge, 
and that by that means a gap be open for excessive mur- 
der, destructive to the state. And the reason is, a man 
may as well do it in pursuance of his reputation, as his 
goods ; and he that hath had a box on the ear is accoun- 
ted dishonorable till he hath killed his enemy." Azorius 
saith, "is it lawful for a person of quality to kill one that 
would give him a box on the ear, or a b^g with a stick f 
Some say not. But others affirm it lawful, and for my 
part I think it probable, when it cannot be avoided 
otherwise : for if it were not, the reputation of innocent 
persons were still exposed to the insolency of the ma- 
licious." Many others are of the same mind, insomuch 
that Lessius saith, "it is lawful, by the consent of all 
casuists, to kill him that would give a box on the ear, or 
a blow with a stick, when a man cannot otherwise avoid 
it." Baldellus saith, "it is lawful to kill him that saith 

9 



98 jmuvtt 

to you, thou liest, if a man cannot r^ht himself otber^ 
wise." Lessius saith, *4f you endeavor to ruin my rep- 
utation by opprobrious speeches before persons of hon- 
or, and I cannot avoid them otherwise than by killing 
you, may I do it ? I may; though the crime you lay 
to my charge be such as I am really guilty of, it being 
supposed to have been so secretly committed, that you 
cannot discover it by ways of justice. It is proved, if 
when you would take away my reputation by giving me 
a box on the ear, it is in my power to prevent it by force 
of arms, the same defence is certainly lawful, when you 
would do me the same injury with your tongue. Besides, 
a man may avoid the affront of those whose ill language 
he cannot hinder. In a word, honor is more precious 
than life, but a man may i^U in defence of his life, ergOj 
he may kill in defence of his honor." The Jansenists 
are against all this» 

Escobar saith, that ' 'regularly it is lawful to kill a man 
for the value of a crown." according to Molina. Ami* 
cus saith, **it is lawful for a churchman or a religious 
man to kill a detractor that threatens to divulge the scan- 
dalous crimes of his community or himself, when there 
is no other means left to hinder him from doing it, as if 
he be ready to scatter his calumnies, if not suddenly 
despatched out of the wayJ' Caramavel in bis funda* 
mental theology takes it for certain^ that '^ priest not 
only may kill a detractor on certain occasions, but some- 
times ought to do it.^' The Jansenists believe none of 
this. 

You may read in "the Mystery of Jesuitism," a volume 
of such passages of the Jesuits, allowing men to give and 
receive the sacrament when they come that day from 
adultery, and allowing a man to eat and drink as much 
as he can with his health : and discharging men from a 
necessity of loving God, unles it be once in their lives, 
or as others say upon holy-days, or as Hurtado de Men- 
doza, once a year, or as Conink, once in three or four 
years,' or a sHenriqiiez, once in five years, or as Anthony 
Sirmond, not at all, so we do not hate him, and do obey 
his other commands. 

Are all those differences among the Papists so small 
as to be no matters of faith f Judge then whether Pa- 



pists or the reformed are more at unity among them- 
selves. 

Although the loving of God, the avoiding of murder, 
bribery, and the like, are no. matter of faith at Rome, 
yet I desire to know whether the Holy Scripture be mat- 
ter of faith or not t They dare not deny but it is» What 
is the Scripture, but the words and the sense or matter ? 
Are the Papists agreed among themselves about either 
of those ? No : for some of the best learned of them 
have stood for the preeminence of the Hebrew and 
Greek texts: and others, and the most for the vulgar Lat- 
in. But that vulgar Latin translation hath been often 
altered by them. After many others. Pope Sixtus Y. 
made it so complete, that the church was required to use 
his edition ; yet after him came Pope Clement VIIL 
and mended it in many thousand places, and imposed 
that upon the church ; which of those Popes were infal- 
lible 1 They much differ in their translations. 

For the sense of Scripture although men swear to take 
the Scriptures in the sense of the church, yet will not 
any Pope or council to this day, tell us the sense of them, 
either by giving us an infallible commentary, or by de- 
ciding the many thousand dijQferences that are among 
their commentators. Do not all these commentators 
forswear themselves, those who lived since the council 
of Trent, having sworn to expound Scripture in the sense 
of the church, and only according to the unanimous con- 
sent of the fathers I Why doth not the Pope decide 
these controversies ? seeing he is a judge of controversies 
to keep them all of a mind 1 

But perhaps they will say ; "all those Scriptures are 
not matters of faith," Where are we then"? what is 
matter of faith if Scripture be not'? If all be not, how 
shall we know which is 1 Is no one of all those many 
hundred or thousand texts which youi; commentators dif- 
fer about any matter of faith ? If not, then you have no 
faith. If it be, then the Papists differ amon^ themselves 
in matters of faith. James Bellum Papale^ vel Con-' 
cordia DUcar$^ 



I 



100 JisviT 



CHAPTER VII. 

PrineipUs of Faith, 

Thus you may discern kouf to deal with tfiem^ token 
they industriously confound the essentials and the inte^ 
gral parts of our jaith : for this is another of their jug- 

They cannot endure to hear us distinguish the funda- 
mentals, that is the essentials of our religion from the 
rest : and therefore they call for a catalogue of our fun- 
damentals : and would persuade us that whatsoever b 
matter of faith, is of no necessity to salvation to he believ- 
ed, and those are damnable heretics that deny them, and 
therefore we must not make any such difference. Their 
design in this is to persuade people that the world must 
be wholly of their mind in matters of faith, or else they 
cannot be saved. And by this trick they would prove 
that the Protestants and many other churches are all 
heretics, and therefore have no place in general councils, 
and are no parts of the catholic church. 

We desire the Papists to tell us whether Christianity 
be any thing or nothing / If any thing, it hath its es- 
sence. Whether this essence of Christianity be know- 
able or not 1 If not, then they cannot know a Chris- 
tian from another : and they cannot know the church 
from other societies. If it be knowable, then its essence 
must needs be knowable. Whether all true Christians 
in the world are of the same stature or degree of knowl- 
edge and explicit belief? If they be, then there is no 
difference between fathers and babes, strong and weak, 
priest and people ; and then the Jesuits have no more 
knowledge or faith than the simplest woman of their 
church. But if thege be a difference, whether the es- 
sence of Christianity be varied according to those degrees. 
If so, then there are as many sorts of Christianity in the 
world, as there be degrees of faith. If not, then the esi 
sence of Christianity is distinguishable from the integrity 
or superadded degrees, which is the thing that we 
contend for. Whether the apostlei; did not go on to 
teach their people more, after they bad made them 



aiTO«LIKO 101 

Christianas in a state of salvation? And whether the 
{»riests, friars, and Jesuits will give men up, and teach 
them nothing more when they have made them Chris- 
tians. I know they will say, there is more to be taught. 
If so, then the essentials of Christianity are distinguish- 
able from the integrsds or deffre'es^ We would know 
how they will understand, Heo. v% 10, 11, 12, 14. and 
vi. 1,2. ^^ For when for the time ye ought to be teachers^ 
ye have need that one teach you again which be the first 
principles of the oracles of God, and arfe become such 
as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For ev- 
ery one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righte- 
ousness,, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to 
them that are full of age, who by reason of use have 
their senses exercised to discern good and evil : therefore 
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go 
on to perfection, not laying again the foundation, &c.'* 
Tell us whether the apostle do not here distinguish be- 
tween babes and strong men ; milk and strong meat ; 
the principles or foundation or perfection t Whether all 
that is revealed by God be of absolute necessity to every 
man's salvation that do or may hear it ? If so, then no 
man can be saved that knoweth not all that God hath 
revealed ; and then no one in the wo^d can be saved : 
for here we know but in part. Their own commenta- 
tors differ about the word of God, which sheweth that 
they are imperfect in the knowledge of its senses. The 
Pope knows it not, or else he is shamefully to blame, 
that he will not tell it the world, and reconcile hb com- 
mentators and disputers. But if all revealed be not of ab- 
solute necessity, then we may have leave to distinguish 
between points absolutely necessary, and the rest. 
Whether all shall be damned, that know not as mnch as the 
most learned and wise 1 If not, then still we may have 
leave to distinguish; — Whether any ignorance or error 
that is culpable, will stand with charity and salvation 1 
If not, then who shall be saved "? If so, then we may 
still distinguish the points of absolute necessity from the 
rest Whether the whole Holy Scripture be the word of 
God ? If so, then whether we ought not to believe it all 
as far as we can understand it 1 And whether it be not 
all matter of faith 1 If not they must tell us, what part of 

9» 



God*8 word is to be believed, and what not« If so ; then 
certainly men may err in points of faith, and yet have 
charity, and be saved : as their disagreeing commenta- 
tors, casuists, and schoolmen do. Whether the matters 
that their divines are disagreed in, be revealed by God, 
or things unrevealed ? If not revealed, do they not de- 
serve to be kicked out of the world, for troubling the 
world so with unrevealed things 1 If they be revealed, 
are they not revealed to be believed, and so are of faith? 
Whether there be not some things esuntial to true ohe- 
dience, and some things not essei^tial? If not, then no 
sinner hath sincere obedience, and can be saved : if so ; 
then why may not the same be said of faith ? Whether 
they require any profession of the faith or not ? If they do, 
then what is that profession ? Is it a profession of every 
particular truth that God hath revealed to be believed ? 
Or is it a profession of some particular truths only ? If 
of some only, why of those more than the rest, if they be 
not the essentials distinguishable from the rest ? What 
is the use of the church's creed, and why they have used 
frequently to make confession of their faith ? Was it 
not the whole faith essential to Christianity which they 
confessed 1 If not, then it was not fit to be the badge of 
the church ; or of the orthodox : if so, then it seems those 
creeds had in them the essentials distinguished from the 
rest. Whether every thing delivered or defined by any 
general council, be of such necessity to salvation, that 
all must explicitly believe them all, that will be saved ? 
If so, then whether any Papist can be saved, seeing they 
understand them not all? If not, then a distinction 
must be made. How can they countenance ignorance 
so much as they do, if all things revealed be of equal 
necessity to salvation. What mean they to distinguish 
of implicit and explicit faith ? Is it enough to believe as 
the church believes, and not know what in any particu- 
lar ? then it is not necessary to salvation to believe the 
resurreciion of Christ, or of man, or the life to come. 
For a man may believe that the church is in the right, 
and yet not know that it holdeth any of these. Is it 
enough to believe the formal object of faith, which with 
us is God's veracity, without the material ? Or is it 
enough to remain infidels, and only believe that the 



JtroeiiKd. 103 

church are true believers ? If you hold to this, you make 
no act of faith, but one, the believing that the church, 
that is, the Pope or council are true believers, to be of 
necessity to salvation. But if there be something that is 
necessary to be actually, that is explicitly, believed, then 
must not that be distinguished from the rest and made 
known? Whence is it that you denominate men be-' 
lievers with you ? Is it from a positive faith, or for not 
holding the contrary? If the latter, then stones, and 
beasts, and pagans, and their infants may be believers. 
If the former, then the positive faith whence all believ- 
ers are denominated must be known. Is not that truth 
faith and all that is essential to Christianity, which doth 
consist with saving grace, or to use your phrase, with true 
charity ? If not, then either infidels and no Christians 
may have true charity, or else true charity may be in 
the unjustified, or both. If then men of lower know- 
ledge and faith than doctors, may have true charity ; and 
therefore true faith. Bellarmin often distinguisheth be- 
tween the points that all must of necessity explicitly be- 
lieve, and the rest. Suarez in 3. part. Thorn. Disp. 43. 
Sect. 4. saith of the article of Christ's descending into 
hell — " If by an article of faith we understand a truth 
which all the faithful are bound explicitly to know and 
believe, so I do not think it necessary to reckon this 
among the articles of faith, because it is not altogether 
necessary for all men." Here Suazez distinguisheth be- 
tween articles of necessity to all, and those that are not: 
and excepts even the descent into hell from this number 
of articles necessary to g,ll. 

But perhaps you will say, that though all that is of 
faith is not necessary to be believed explicitly by all, 
yet implicitly it must. That which you call implicit be- 
lieving is no believing that point, but another point: yea 
a point that doth not so much as infer that, for it folio w- 
eth not, the church is infallible ; therefore Christ descend- 
eth into hell. 

We believe all that is of faith, with an implicit faith as 
well as you : but it is an implicit divine faith and not human : 
for we are sure all that God saith is true ; and his divine 
veracity is the formal object of our faith. We believe 
that all that is in Scripture, is true, and all that was ever 
delivered by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost is true. 



104 Jfisvtt 

But all that is of faith is so necessai^^ that it will not 
stand with salvation to believe the contrary^ or deny or 
dbbelieve any point of faith. That cannot be true ; for 
no man can prove that a point may not be denied and 
disputed agaiust by a true believer as long as he is igno* 
rant that it is true, and from God : the same ignorance 
that keeps him from knowing it, may cause him to de- 
ny it, and gainsay it. Do not your own differing com- 
mentators, schoolmen and casubts dispute voluminously 
against some truths of divine revelation ? If yon change 
a man's mind from the smallest error by dispute, do you 
take that to be a change of his state from death to life ? 
iSInseas Sylvius thought a general council was above the 
Pope : but when he was Pope Pius II. he thought the 
Pope above a general council ; was that a change from 
death to life. It seems by his bull of retractation, he thought 
so, but so did not several general councils. Was the 
Council of Basil, or Constance, or Pisa in a state of death 
and damnation for believing the Pope to be subject to a 
general council 1 or was the council at Lateran in a state 
of death for holding the contrary 1 Must either Pope John 
or Pope Nicholas be damned because of the contrariety 
of their decrees 1 If the council of Tolet ordain that he 
that hath a concubine instead of a wife, shall not be 
kept from the sacrament, doth it prove them all in a 
state of death 1 If Bellarmin confess that the sixth gen- 
eral council of Constantinople have many errors, doth it 
follow that they were in a damnable state f If the second 
council at Nice maintain the corporeity of Angels, and 
the first council at Lateran maintain the contrary, doth it 
follow that one of them was in a state of death 1 I think 
not : though it proves a general council fallible, when 
approved by the Pope, and therefore Popery a deceit. 
Bellarmin tells us tlie change of his own mind. 

The retractations of Austin tell us of tlie change of his 
mind in many things: and yet it foUoweth not that he 
was in a state of death and unjustified before. 

But all that is of faith is of necessity to the salvation 
of some, though not all. If that be granted, yet you 
must distinguish between points necessary to be believed 
by all. But in what case is it that you mean,, that oth- 
er points are of necessity to some ? Is it to those 9ome 



jVgoling. . 105 

at know them to be of divine revelation ? But that is 
>t because the things themselves are simply necessary 
I salvation ; but because a belief of God's veracity, and 
le truth of all that he revealeth in general, is of neces- 
ty: and he that belie veth that God is true, cannot 
bose but believe all to be true which he knows God re- 
ealeth. He that thinketh God to be a liar, in one word, 
oth not believe his veracity, and so hath no divine faith 
t all. Therefore you need not fear lest any one should 
B guilty of not believing that which they know is the 
ord of God, but those that take God to be a liar ; and 
lat is those that take him not to be God, and so are 
theists. But still the thing of absolute necessity is to 
elieve in general that God is true. in all his word ; and 
) believe the truth of the essential points of Christianity 
1 particular embracing the good propounded in them. 
Few it is true that secondarily all known truths are of 
ecessitj', to be believed, because else our general be- 
ef of God's veracity is not sincere. But yet we must 
ly that antecedently even to that person, those super- 
ided truths were not of necessity to his salvation to bo 
elieved, because they were not of such necessity to 
e known ; and if they had not been known, there had 
ot been such necessity of believing them. 

But if you say, thai all were obliged to know them, or 
lat had opportunity, or the revelation of the truth, and 
et did not, and thereupon deny them culpably, are in a 
:ate of death : I deny that, and shall prove it false. A 
'^ilful refusing the light, because men love darkness rath- 
r than light, is a certain sign of a graceless wretch, 
►ut every culpable ignorance and unbelief is not damn- 
ig ignorance or unbelief. Otherwise no man should 
e saved : for no man is void of culpable ignorance, and 
onsequently of culpable unbelief. Had we never been 
^anting in the use of means, there is no man but might 
ave known more than he doth. Is there any one that 
are refuse to ask God forgiveness of ignorance, unbelief, 
r the negligence that is the culpable cause of them, or 
lat dare say, you need no pardon of them ? If you 
lead for venial sin, how can you deny a venial unbelief, 
pon venial ignorance ? But then learn more piety, than 
) s^y that your venial unbelief or sin is no sin, save m 



106 ixstlT 

analogically so called ; or that it deserves a pardon, or 
deserves not everlasting punishment. But if you call it 
venial, because being consistent with the true love of 
God and habitual holiness, and saving faith, the law of 
grace doth pardon it, and not condemn men for it ; thus 
we would agree with you that there is venial sin ; but 
then there is venial unbelief. 

We easily prove this from the law of God. It is the 
nature of the preceptive part to constitute duty only, 
and the violation of that is sin : but it is the sanction, 
the promise and threatening that determines the reward 
and penalty. Now it is only the old law of works that 
makes the threatening as large as the prohibition, con- 
demning man for every sin : but so doth not the law of 
grace. The precept still commandethr per feet obedience, 
and so makes it a duty ; but the promise maketh not 
perfect obedience the condition of salvation ; but feitb, 
repentance, and sincere obedience, though imperfect. 
The law of nature still makes everlasting death due to 
every sin : but it is such a due as hath a r^edy at hand 
provided and offered in the gospel ; and is actually rem- 
edied to all true believers. So that as it is not every 
sin that will damn us, though damnation be due to it, 
because we have a present remedy ; so it is not very 
culpable ignorance or unbelief that will damn us, though 
it deserve damnation ; because the gospel doth not only 
not damn us for it, but pardons it, by acquitting us from 
the condemnation of the law. All this may teach you, 
not only to mend your abominable doctrine about mortal 
and venial sin ; but also to discern the reason why a 
man may deny some points of faith that are not of the 
essence of Christianity, and yet not be damned for it; 
because the law of grace doth not condeodn him for it, 
though he be culpable, for the law of grace may com- 
mand further than it premptorily condemneth in case of 
disobedience. It is the promise that makes faith the 
condition of life, though it be the precept that makes it 
a duty. Now it saveth not as a performed duty directly, 
because the precept gives not the reward, but as a per- 
formed condition. Therefore unbelief condemneth not 
effectually as a mere sin directly, but as such a sin as is 
the violation of nonperformance of that condition. 



Jti^ohina. 107 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Decision of CorUroveroies* 

Another of their jugglings is, to extol the Judgment 
of the catholic church as that which must be the ground 
(^ faith ^ and the decider of all controversies. To this 
end they plead against the sufficiency of Scripture, 
and bend all the force of their arguings and designs, as 
if all their hope lay in this point, and as if it were grant- 
ed that we are lost, if the catholic church be admitted to 
be the judge. Hence it is that they cry out against pri- 
vate faith and opinions, and calll men to the faith of 
the church, and persuade the poor people, that the 
church is for them, and we are but branches broken ^ 
off. 

We are content to deal with them at their own weap- 
on, and at that one in which they put their trust. We 
know that the true catholic church or any member of it, 
cannot err in any of the essentials of Christianity, for then 
it would cease to be the church : but we have too much 
reason to judge that it is not free from error in lesser 
things. Yet in the main cause between the Papists and 
us, we refuse not their judgment. Nay we turn this 
canon against the canoneers, and easily prove that the 
Papists cause is uttterly lost, if the catholic church be 
judge. 

But it is the ancient church,) or the present church 
that must decide the cause ? It shall be which you will. 
For the most ancient church in the apostles' days, we 
are altogether of its belief, and stand to its decision in 
all things ; and if you prove we mistake them in any 
thing, we shall gladly receive instruction and be re- 
claimed. To them we appeal for our essentials 
and integrals. For some following ages, we will 
be tried by them in the articles of our faith, and in the 
principal controversies we have with the Papists. 

But this will not serve their turn : it is the present 
church that must judge or none : for, they say, if the 
ancient church had power, so hath the present : and if 
the ancient church had possession of the truth, how shall 



108 ansvit 

we know it by the present ? We may know it by the 
records of those times far smrer than by the reports of 
men without writing. Controversies on numerous mys- 
terious points are sorrily carried in the roemoriesy es- 
pecially of the most, even of the teachers ; especially 
when men's memories die with them, and they cannot 
make their children the heirs of their knowledge or memo- 
ries. Do you now remember what was dooe in the 
days of Ignatius, Justin, Cyprian, &c. that never saw 
them ? And can you, that hardly teach your children 
a long catechism, teach them to carry in memory all 
your voluminous councils better than writtenrecords can 
preserve them. For the records, one diligent skilful 
man wilU know more than ten thousand others. Bar- 
onius, Albaspinaeus, Petavius, among the Papists, and 
Usher, Blondell, Salmasius, Gataker, &c. among the 
protestants, knew more of the mind of antiquity, than 
a whole country besides, or than general councils have 
known. 

If you appeal to the greater number, to them shall 
you go. You must be tried by the present church ; then 
you are condemned. Is it the less number, or the great- 
er, or the better that must be judge? You will not say 
the less ; if you do, you know where you are. If you 
say the better part shall be judge : who shall be judge 
which is the better part ? We are ready to prove the 
reformed churches the better part : and if we do not, 
we will give you the cause. But will you appeal to the 
greater part ? Then you are lost. The Greeks, Mos- 
covites, Armenians, Abbasines, and all other churches 
in Asia, Africa and Europe are far more than the Pa- 
pists ; and your own pens and mouths tell us that those 
are against you. Many of them curse you as heretics 
or schismatics ; the rest of them know you not, or re- 
fuse your government. They all agree against your 
Pope's universal headship or sovereignty, and so against 
the very form of your new church. So that the world 
knows the judgment of the far g eatest part of Chris- 
tians on earth to be against you in the main. This you 
get by appealing to the catholic church. 

But you say, that all those are schismatics or heretics^ 
and none of the Catholic Church : but they say as much 



JuboLiKb. 109 

by you ; and how do you prove it f Who shall be 
judge whether they, or you be the catholic church/ 
Tou tell U8 of your succession, and twenty tales that 
are good, if you may be judges yourselves ; but so do 
they i^y as much which is good if they be judge?. 
When we offer to dispute our case with you, you ask 
us v)ho shall he judge^ and tell us the Catholic Church 
must Ire judge. But who shall be judge between you 
and them which is the catholic church ? You will not 
let us be judges in our own cause, and why then should 
you 1 Ar^ we Protestants the less number as to you ? 
so are you to all the rest that are against you. And 
what reason have we to let the less number judge over 
the greater I If still you say, because you are the bet- 
ter, let that be first tried ; but not you be the judges. 

So that the case is plainly this : either the Papists 
must stand to the greater number, and then the contro* 
versy is at an end : or they must shamefully say, wt 
will not dispute with i/ou, unless we may be the judges 
ourselves. Or else they must dispute it equally with 
us, by producing their evidence. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Jimkiguitg of Romaniita in coiUroversy, 

The most common and prevalent deceit of Papists is 
by ambiguous terms to deceive those that cannot force 
them to aistinguish, and to make you believe they mean 
one things when they mean another^ and to mock you 
with cUmdy words. Look to them therefore especially 
in three terms, on which much of their controversies 
Hes; the words church, pope, and council. Few un- 
derstand what they mean by any one of these words. 

When you dispute of the church with them, agree 
first upon the definition of church. When you call 
them to define it, you will find how many things they 
call the church. Sometimes they mean the whole body, 
pastors and people: but more commonly they mean 
only the pastors. Sometimes they mean the church 

10 



ilO smamtt 



leftl: and tonedmes die chareli r epret e p tatJYe, as ihey 
cmll it, in a genenl coanciL Bot wbethei they mean 
the paMOTs or people, thej eicladc all saying the pope 
and his sabjects, and so by the chnrch, mean bat a part 
or a sect. Sometimes in the question aboot traditioo, 
some of the French take the church for the community, 
as Others deliTer the doctrine of Chiist to their children, 
ftc Sometimes they take it in its political sense, for a 
societtr, consisting of a risible head and members : but 
then tney agree not of that head^some setting the pope 
highest, and some the counciL Frequently they take 
the word church for the siroposed head luone, as in 
most questions about in&llibuity, judging of controYer- 
sies, expounding Scripture, keeping of traditions, defin- 
ing points of &ith, &c. They say, the church must 
do these : but commonly they mean the supposed head. 
One part mean a general council : and the Jesuits and 
Italians, and predominant part mean only the pope. 
So that when they talk of the whole catholic church, 
and caU you to its judgment, and boast of its in&llibili- 
ty, they mean all this while but one poor sinful man : 
and such a man as sometimes hath been more unlearn- 
ed than many school-boys of twelve years of age ; a 
murderer, adulterer, heretic, infidel, or an incarnate 
devil. This man is their church, as Gretser, BeUarmin, 
De concil. author. Lib. 2, Cap. 19., and others profess. 

So that if you force them to define and explain what 
they mean by the church, you will either cause them 
to open their nakedness, or find them all to pieces about 
the very subject of dispute. 

When they use the name pope in disputation, make 
them explain themselves \ and tell you in a definition 
what they mean by a pope. For, though you would 
think this term sufikiently understood, yet you find 
them utterly at a loss about it Consider distincdy the 
efficient^ matter, and form. As to the efficient cause of 
their pope, there must concur a divine mstitution, 
which tiuBy can no where show, and a call from man. 
What man or men have power to make a head to the 
cadiolk diurch T But whether they will call it an ef 
ficient cause, or only an essential cause, election and 
ordination must go to make a pope. Now either they 



JVOOLINO. lU 

will pnt theye into their definition, or not. If not, know 
of them whether a man without election and ordination 
may be pope : if so, what makes him one f If posses* 
sion, then he that can conquer Rome and sit down in 
the chair is pope. If not possession, what then t why 
may not any man say I am pope f But doubtless they 
will tell you that an election, or ordination, or both 
s^re necessary. If so, then is it necessary to the being 
of a pope, that some certain persons elect who have the 
power, or will any electors serve whosoever ? If any 
will serve, then every paonastery or every parish may 
choose a pope? If there must be certain authorized 
electors, see that those be named in the definition. 
Then first know whether those^ electors are empowered 
to that work by divine law, or by human. If by divine, 
let them show it if they can* In Scripture thejr can 
never find who must choose the pope. And their tra- 
dition hath no such precept, as appeareth by the alter- 
ations and divers ways. If it be but by a human eccle- 
siastical canon, then the Papacy is so too : for the power 
received can have no higher a cause than the power 
giving or authorizing. 

When you know who those electors must be, you 
open their nakedness. For if they say, it must be the 
cardinals, ask them, where then was the pope when 
there were no cardinals in the world? and whether 
that were a pop^ or not that was chosen by the whole 
Roman clergy? or whether those were popes or not 
that were chosen by the people ? or those that were 
chosen by the emperor ? or those that were chosen by 
councils ? If they tell you that it must be the Roman 
clergy ; know whether the cardinals be the whole Ro- 
man clergy ? Whether the people, the council or the 
emperors were the Roman clergy ? If they would per- 
suade you, that either the people, or the emperor, or 
the council did not elect the pope, but only show whom 
the Roman clergy should elect, interposing exorbitantly 
some unjust force with the due election ; then all his- 
tory crieth shame against them. Nothing is more 
evident in the Papal history, than that there have been 
at least five ways of election among them. 

If they "allow of any of those as valid, which it ever 



112 JESUIT 

be, as they mast, or give up their saccessioo, then hy 
what law of God did the emperor of Geraaany choose a 
head for the church, any more than the emperor of 
Habassia, or the king of France or Spain? When the 
emperor hath chosen one and the clergy another, and 
some others a third, were all true popes^if each party 
was authorized electors ? If yet the people choose 
one, and the Roman clergy another, and the cardinals 
alone a third, and the emperor a fourth, and a council 
a fifth, must all those stand, or which of them, and 
why f Or if they tell you that it must be the particular 
Roman church ; then if the people of that church choose 
one, and the clergy another, and the cardinals a third, 
which is the true pope ? The succession is gone : for 
they were no popes that emperors or councils chose. 

If they tell you that it is not election but consecra- 
tion that makes a pope or that consecration is of neces- 
sity with election ; then demand of them whether it be 
any one whosoever that may consecrate, or whether 
that high power be confined to certain hands? If any 
may serve, or any bishops, then he that can get three 
drunken bishops to consecrate him may be pope. And 
then there may be an hundred popes at once. But if 
it be confined to certain hands, let it be declared who 
those are that must ordain or consecrate him. If they 
say, that it must be only the Italian bishops that must 
consecrate, then know of them by what law of God 
they have power to consecrate a head to the universal 
church : by what law they can form a creature of a 
more noble species than themselves ; or whether this 
prove not, that as a bishop at first was but like the fore- 
man of a jury, thence sprung an archbishop, and thence 
a patriarch, so in process of time, when pwide grew ri- 
per, the pope grew to be the head or governor of the 
universal church. 

But if they can show us no law pf God empowering 
those special consecrators, any more than others, then 
where is the Papacy that dependeth on it? TJ^ere is 
nothing in Scripture to empower the Italian bishops 
any mote than the Gallican, German, or Asian, to con- 
secrate a head for the catholic cliurcb. 

But suppose there were, yet we must he revolted 



wkether it be some or all the Italian Bishops that must 
dp it? If but some which be they? and now is their 
power proved f If all or any, then what shall we do 
when some of them cons(H:rate one pope, and some 
another, and some a third % Which of those is the pope ^ 
If consecration give the ]>ower, all are popes. And 
still the Papal saccession is overthrown, while many 
popes had no consecration by Italian bishops. 

Thus you may see what a case the Jesuits will be in, 
if you put them to insert the necessary electors and 
conSecrators in their definition of a pope. 

You must also require them to put his necessary 
qualification in the description. For if no disposition 
of the matter be necessary, then a Jew or other infidel 
may be pope : which they will deny. If any dispo- 
sition of the subject be of necessity to the reception of 
the forin, cause them to put it down. It is either true 
godliness, or it is common honesty and sobriety : and 
then farewell Papacy ; or it is learning and knowledge': 
and then Alphonsus Castro, and other Papists, 
will bear witness that some popes understood not 
their grammar, and one good man, saith Wernerus, 
being ignorant of letters, was fein to get another corn- 
pope to say his ofiices, though it happened that they 
could not agree, and so a third was chosen, and his 
choice disliked, and a fourth chosen, till there was six 
chosen popes alive at once. If age be necessary, then 
children popes have interrupted the succession. If the 
masculine gender be necessary, Pope Joan interrupted 
the succession, unless fifty of their own historians de- 
ceive us. But the question is whether faith in Christ 
be of necessity to a pope f If so then what will you 
say to John XXIII. that denied the life to come, and to 
those that have been guilty of heresy.? So that by 
that time they have put the necessary qualification of 
a pope into their definition, you shall find them silenced. 
But they are not agreed about the very form of the 
papacy. Some say he is the head of all the church: 
others, with the general councils of Constance and Ba- 
sil say, that he is the head only of the singular mem- 
bers, but subject to a council . So that you may see what 

10* 



114 



thftj frill be in, if tkej tell yoa what thay mean 
hj a F^P^ *D^ defoe kim. 

If tii^ oae tlw name of a general council, call them 
to define what thej mean by a general council. Some 
of them will say, it most beatnie repreaentetiTe of the 
whole catholic chorch : ao that morally they are all 
consenting to what is there donei But then the doubt 
remaineth, whether there be a neoessirf of any certain 
nomber of bishops f If not; it seems the whole church 
may agree that twenty, or ten, or two, or one shall rep- 
resent them, and be a general coonciL Bat if this most 
not hold, then most all the bishops of the world be there, 
or only some, and how many f Binios saith, vol. 1. p. 
313. that a general council is that where all the bishops 
of the world may and ooght to be present, unless they 
be lawfully hindred, and in which none but the Pope 
of Rome by himself or his legates, is wont to preside. It 
is when all the church is morally represented, the 
pope presiding. 

How prove they that only bishops should be mem- 
bers of a council, and not presbyters 1 

By their de£nit:o3 they nullify many general councils, 
because the pope presided not there: even the first 
general council at Nice. 

3y this rule we never had a general council. At the 
first session of the council of Trent, there were but four 
archbishops aod twenty-two bishops, taking in the tit- 
ular bishops of Upsal, Armagh, and Worcester. Ai 
divers other sessions after but eight or nine, or every 
few more. In the fourth session which degreed to re- 
ceive tradition with equal pious affection and reverence 
as the Holy Scriptures, and which gave a false cata- 
logue of the canonical books, there were but the pope's 
legates, two cardinals, nine archbishops, and forty one 
prelates. Now was that the whole church morally rep- 
resented F were those twenty-two, or forty-one all the 
bishops of the world, or the hundredth part of them? 
and ought all {he bishops of the African, Asian, and 
other churches to have been there ? 

It is plain by this definition, that a general council 
is but a name, and that no such thing is to be expected 
in the world. For, if all bishops, or half come thither, 



what shall their fiockt do the while/ How many 
years must they be traveling from America, Ethiopia, 
aud all the remote parts of the Christian world f So 
mach shipping, and provision, are necessary for the 
convoy of so many, that the bishops are not able to de- 
fray the hundredth part of the charge* Abundance of 
them are so aged and weak, that they are unfit for the 
journey. Their princes are some of them infidels, and 
some at wars, and will never give them leave to come. 
They must pass through many kingdoms of the ene- 
mies, oir that are in wars, that will never suffer them to 
pass. The tediousness, and hazards of the journey 
would be death to most of them, and so it is but a plot 
to put an end to the church. The length of general 
councils is such, some of them being ten years, that at 
Trent eighteen, that so many bishops to be long absent 
from home, is but to give up the church to infidelity or 
impiety; unless the bishops be such things as the 
church can spare. When they come together, they 
could not understand one another, because of the diver- 
sity of their iangiiaffes. The number would be so 
great, that they coulanot converse in one assembly: 
so that a true general council now, is but a name to 
amuse those that think the world is no bigger than a 
man may ride over in a week's short journey. 

This definition is ridiculous for it is enough that all 
the bishops of the world may and ought to be there, 
whether they be there or not. But then what if lazi- 
ness or danger deter them or detain them ? Is that a 
council where bishops ought to be and are not.^ How 
many must be present, any or none? Prove that forty 
bishops are a general council, because the rest ought to 
be there. Who shall be judge of each man's case, 
whether he could or ought to have been there 1 Will 
you judge men before they are heard, or their cause 
known 1 Your saying that they ought to have been 
there, is no proof 

Binius hath one exception, unless lawfully hinder- 
ed. If all the bishops in the world be lawfully hin- 
dred, it seems it is a general council when no body is 
there : you see now what you put the Papists too, if 
you put them to define a general council, or tell you 
what they mean by that word. 



116 /BfVlT 

CHAPTER X. 

Papal Cc^fiukn* 

When they go about from councils or other history 
to prove the sovereignty of the pope, let them not cheat 
you by confounding ; a human ordinance with a di* 
vine : an alter able point of order ^ith an unalterable 
essenti(il part of the church : or a mere primacy in 
the same order or office^ toith a governing sovereignty 
or a different order or office. 

Therefore we would learn of them, whether the pre- 
eminence and order of the Rve patriarchal sees, begati 
not about the first council but was settled some wiiile 
after: for till there were general councils, so called, 
there was no occasion of determining which should 
have the first, second or third seat. 

When ever the time was, we inquire ; whether the 
sees of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, were not pa- 
triarchal as soon as Rome ? and whether councils that 
speak of priority, or ''posteriority, do not in the same 
manner, and on the same ground^, and to the same ends 
give Alexandria, and Antioch, their places, as they do 
to Rome? We find them speaking of them as matters 
of the same order and nature. Whether all those have 
not the same kind of right to their preeminence, wheth- 
er it be divine or human ? The very {pundation of the 
patriarchal order, and of Rome's patriarchal primacy, 
which was the preparative to its universal sovereignty, 
was a mere human invention, given on occasion of the 
imperial seat at Rome, and not any institution of Christ 
to Peter and his successorjs. All that will not be be- 
fooled out of all historical verity by Popish audacity, 
may take it from the express words of the council of 
Calcedon, Act. 16,^ — "We following always the defini- 
tions of the holy fathers, and canon, and knowing 
those that now have been read of the 150 bishops, that 
were congregated under the emperor Theodosins at 
Constantinople, things, concemmg the privileges of 
the same chinch of Constantinople. For to the seat of 
old Rome, because the empire of that city, the ftthers 



JVOOLINO. 1 17 

consequently gave the privileges. And the 150 bish- 
ops being mored with the same intention, have given 
^jual privileges to new Rome : reasonably judging, 
^m the city adorned with the empire and senate, shall 
6njoy equal privileges with old regal Rome." Binius 
p. 134. 

It may confound all the Papal jugglers on eauth to 
^nd an approved general council affirming that Rome's 
I^macy was given by the fathers ; because it wa*9 the 
imperial city. On the same reason they do the like by 
Constantinople ; for the council of Constantinople which 
liad gone before them on those grounds: so that you have 
the vote of two councils, that it was not so from the be- 
ginning, nor an apostolical tradition, but the act of the 
fathers, because of the imperial city. If a general 
council can err, Popery is a deceit. If it cannot err, 
then the very primacy in the pope was then but new,, 
and done by man, that might do the like by others, and 
therefore undo this agaiR, 

B ut say they, Pope Leo confirmed not this. Then the 
church representative may err, and the pope only is in- 
fallible. Leo and his delegates never expected one 
word against the saying, that it was because of the em- 
pire, that Rome by the fathers had the primacy given it. 
The reason given by themselves Concil. Constant, 
can, 5. is this, because Constantinople is new Rome. 
Binius saifh that Rome receiveth not the canons of 
this council neither, but only their condemnation of 
Macedoniua: and that every council hath just so much 
strength and authority as the apostolic seat bestoweth 
on it. For unless this be admitted, no reasoa can be . 
given why some councils of greater numbers of bishops 
were reprobated ; and others of a smaller number con- 
firmed.*^ Vol. 2. p. 515. 

What would you have more ? Do you not see what 
the Popish church is ; and what they mean when they 
ask you, whether your private judgment be safer or 
wiser than that of the whole church, ox of all the Chris- 
tian world ? You see they mean all this while but one 
man, whom Gretser and others plainly confess they 
call the church. So that indeed it is general councils, 
^d aU tbe Christian worl4 or ^burcE that are the ig* 



118 JB81JIT 

norant, fallible, and oft erring part : and it is one man, 
who has been reputed an incarnate devil by a general 
• council, that is the unerring pillar of the church, and 
wiser than all. They make a mere nothing or mockery 
of general councils, any further than they please the 
pope? And can you expect that any thing should 
please them that is against his greatness, or as Julius 
il. calls it, his holding the place of the great God, 
the maker of all things, and laws f What a vile abuse 
is it then of the pope to trouble the world by the meet- 
ings and consultations of general councils, when he 
can sit at Rome and contradict them infallibly, and 
save the catholic church from the errors that general 
councils would else lead them into: and therefore could 
he not with less ado infallibly make us laws, canons 
and Scriptures without them? For that which the 
pope can do against a general council, he can do with- 
out them. If he can infallibly contradict a general 
council, and infallibly rule us without them. There- 
fore you may look long enough before you see 
another general council. The council of Constance 
were neither prognosticators nor effectual lawgivers, 
when they prognosticated and ordained decennial coun- 
cils. 

Here also you may see what account the Papists 
make even of the first general councils. It is all one 
with them to judge others heretics for contradicting es- 
pecially the four first general councils, compared to the 
four evangelists as the Scripture itself: arid yet they 
profess themselves to reject the canons or decrees of 
both those, the first of Constantinople, and that of Cal- 
cedon. 

• Thus the pope is privileged from all possibility of 
being an heretic personilly : and not only the Romish 
universal monarchy and vice-godhead, but even its pa- 
triarchal primacy was no apostolical tradition, but a 
human institution, founded on this consideration, that 
Rome was the imperial seat and city. 

Human it must needs be : for councils did not de* 
clare any part of the law of God, but ordain it as an 
act of their own. They and the patriarchate of Con- 
9tantinop]e, which was a new seat, neither patriarch 



Qor bishop residing there in the apostles' days, or long 
aAer. They give this new patriarch the second place 
and once made hiiti equal with old Rome, which they 
v^ould never have presumed to do, if they had thought 
:hat the patriarchship of Alexandria, Antioch, or Rome 
bad been of divine institution : for what horrible arro- 
^nce would that have been, when the Holy Qhost 
by the apostles had made Alexandria second, and An- 
ioch third, and Rpme first, for a council to set Con- 
stantinople before two of them, and equal with the first. 

Therefore if patriarchs be desirable creatures, there 
nay more new ones now be made, as lawfully as that 
3f Constantinople. 

Therefore we judge, that to disobey the pope, or 
kvitbdraw from his subjection, if he had never forfeited 
lis patriarchship by the claim of an universal headship, 
vere no greater a sin, than to disobey or withdraw 
rom the patriarch of Alexandria, Antioch, or Constan- 
inople. Either the government by patriarchs and 
irchbishops is of God's ordaining and approving, or 
lot : if not then it is no sin to reject any of them. If 
t be of God, then to reject any of them, though in sim- 
ple error, is a sin of disobedience through ignorance, 
but is far from proving a man to be no member of the 
:atholic church : for patriarchs are far from being es- 
sential parts of the catholic church. 

As in the Papists' own judgment, the catholic church 
ma V be without the patriarch of Constantinople, Alex- 
andria, or Antioch : so may it therefore without the 
Pope of Rome. All the Greek church which hath set 
up the patriarch of Constantinople in competition with 
the pope, must needs hold that the universal primacy 
is of human institution: for Constantinople never pre- 
tended to a divine institution : and they could never 
have had the impudence to prefer a human before a di- 
irine : and therefore never thought the primacy of Rome 
:o be of divines right. 



\20 isivtf 

CHAPTER XI. 

The great endeavor of the Papists is to ekdva/nct tra- 
dition : the council of Trent ses. 4. hath equalled it 
with the Scriptures as to the pious affection and reverence 
wherewith they receive it. On pretence of this tradition 
they have added ahundance of new articles to the &itb, 
ana accuse us as heretics for not receiving their tra- 
ditions. This is a principal difference betwixt us, that 
we take the Scriptures to be sufficient, to acquaint us 
with the will of^God, as the rule of faith and holy liv- 
ing: and they take it to be but part of the word, and that 
the other part is in unwritten tradition, which they 
equal with this. For the maintaining of tradition it is 
that they write so much to the dishonor of the Holy 
Scripture. 

For the discovery of their desperate fraud in this 
point, and the right confuting of them , you must dis- 
tinguish them out of their confusion : you must grant 
them all that is true and just, which we shall as stifly 
defend as they: you must reject their errors and con- 
fute them : and you may turn their own principal weap- 
on against them, to the certain destruction of their 
cause. 

We must distinguish the tradition of the Scriptures, 
or the Scripture doctrine, from the tradition of other 
doctrines, pretended to be the rest of the word of Grod : 
between a certain proved tradition, and that which is 
unproved and uncertain, if not grossly feigned: between 
the tradition of the whole catholic church, or the great- 
er part, and the tradition of the lesser more corrupted 
and selfish the Roman part ! between a tradition of 
necessary doctrine or practice, and the tradition of mu- 
table orders : between tradition of testimony! or history, 
or of totiching ministry, and tradition of decisiTe judg- 
ment, as to the universal church. Suffer them not to 
jumble all those together, if you would not be cheated 
in the dark. 

Concerning tradition, we grant the following propo- 
sitions. 



JVdOLlHO Iftl 

That tbe Holy Scriptures come down to us by the cer- 
t^n tradition of our mtkera and teachers ; and that whal 
the seeing and hearing ojf the apostles was to them that 
liVed with them, that trc^kion and belief of certain tradi- 
tion is to us, by reason of our distance from the tirae and 
place. So that though the Scripture bears its own evi- 
dence of a divine author, in the image or superscription 
of God upon it, yet we are beholden to tradition for the 
books themselves, and for much of our knowledge that 
Ihoae are the true writings of the apostles and prophets, 
and all, and not depraved, ^. 

The essentials of the faith have been delivered even 
from the apostles in other ways and forms, besides the 
Scriptures : as in the professions of the faith of the 
churches. In the baptismal covenant and signs, and 
whole administration. In the Lord's Supper. In Cat- 
echisms.' In^ the prayers and praises of the church. 
In the hearts of all true believers, where God hath 
written all the essentials of the Christian faith and law. 
So that we will not do as the Papists perverslydo: 
when God delivereth us the Christian religion with 
two hands. Scripture completely and verbal tradition, 
in the essentials ; they quarrel with Scripture on pre- 
tence of defending the other: so will not we quarrel with 
tradition, but thankfully confers a tradition of the same 
Christianity by unwritten means, which is delivered 
more fully in the Scripture: and this tradition is in 
some respect subordinate to Scripture, and in some 
respect co-ordinate, to hold us out the truth. 

The apostles delivered the Gospel by voice as well 
as by writing, before they wrote it to the churches. 

By that preaching we confess there were Christians 
made, who had the doctrine of Christ in their hearts, 
and churches gathered that had his ordinances among 
them, b^re the Gospel was written. 

We confess that the converted were bound to teach 
what they had received to their children, sefrvants and 
others: that there was a settled ministry in many 
ehurehee ordained to preach the gospel as they had 
received it froea the apestles before it was written: that 
baptism, catechising, profession, the eucharist, prdyer, 
pipaisa, Ac* were instituted and in use, beibre the Uos- 

11 



122 j«»wfT 

pel was vnritten for the churches : that when the GoS' 
pel was written as tradition hringeth it to us, so minis* 
ters are commissioned to deliver- hoth the hooks and 
the doctrine of that hook, as the teachers of the churcb, 
and to preach it to those without, for their conversion : 
that parents and masters are hound to teach that doc- 
trine to their children and servants : if a minister or 
other person were cast into the Indies or America with- 
out a Bihle, he must teach the doctrine, though he re- 
memhered not the words ; and hy so doing might save 
souls : that to the great benefit of the church, writers 
of all ages in suhserviency to Scripture have delivered 
down the sacred verities, and historians the matters 
of fact : that the linanimous consent of all the churches 
manifested in their constant professions, and practices, 
is a great confirmation to us : so are the sufferings of the 
martyrs for the same truth : the declaration of each 
consent by councils is also a confirming tradition : and 
the confessions of heretics, Jews and other infidels, are 
providential and historical traditions, for confirmation : 
and we also profess that if we had any certain proof 
of a tradition from the apostles of any Ihing more than 
is written in Scripture, we would receive it. 

But we take the Holy Scriptures as the complete 
universal rule or law of faith and holy living. We 
know of no tradition that containeth another word of 
God ; and we know there is none such because the 
Scripture is true, which asserteth its 6wn sufficiency. 
Scripture, and unwritten tradition are but two ways of* 
acquainting the world with the same christian doctrine ; 
and not with divers parts of that doctrine, that tradition 
adds to Scripture. It is but the substance of greatest 
virtues that are conveyed by unwritten tradition: but 
that and much more is contained in the Scripture^ where 
the christian doctrine is complete, and containeth the 
integrals as well as the essential. 

The manner of delivery in a form of words,. which 
no man may alter, and in so much fulness and perspi- 
cuity, is much to be preferred before the nkere verbal 
delivery of the same doctrine. The raemoiry of man 
cannot r^in as much as the Bible doth contain, and 
preserve it safe from alterations or corruplioiis; or if 



one man were of isa strong a memoryi no man can ima- 
gine that all should be so: or if one generation had such 
wonderful memories, we cannot imagine that all their 
posterity should have the like. 

If all the world had such miraeulous memories, yet 
men are apt to be negligent cither in learning or keep- 
ing of holy doctrine. All have not that zeal that ex- 
cites them to such wonderful diligence without which 
such a treasure could not be prei^enred. 

When so much matter is committed to bare memory 
without a form of unalterable words, new words may 
make an alteration before men are aware. The change 
of one word sometimes makes a whole discourse have 
another sense. 

There are so many carnal men in the world that 
love not the strictness of that doctrine which they do 
possess, and so many heretics that would pervert the 
holy doctrine, that it would purposely be altered by 
them if it could be done; and it mighl much more 
easily be done, if it lay all upon mens' memories : for 
one party would set their memory against the others, 
and tradition would be set against tradition : especially 
when the fat greater part of the church turn heretics, 
as in the Arians' days; then tradition would be most 
at their keeping and interpretation ; and if we had not 
then had the unalterable Scriptures, what might they 
not have done f 

A whole body 6f doctrine kept only in memory, will 
'soon be di^ointed; and if the matter were kept safe, 
yet the method and rhanner would be lost. 

There could not be such satisfactory evidence given 
to another of tte integrity or certainty of it, as when 
it is preserved in writing. We should all be diffident 
that the laws were corrupted, or that lawyers might 
combine to do it at tkeir pleasure, if there were no law 
books or records, but all lay in their memories. If 
they were ^ithful, yet they could not give us evidence 

of It. 

The holy truths of God, historical, doctrinal, practi- 
cal, prophetical, &c., without a coarse of miracles, or 
extraorainary means, could not have been kept through 
all ages, as well without writing, as with it. 



Id4 JSiUIT 

If writing be not neceisary, why hare we to many 
fiithera, histories, and canons? Why do thev fetch 
their tradition from those and ridiculously call them 
unwritten verities .^ Are they unwritten, when they 
tarn us Xo so many volumes for them^ If nuin's writ* 
ing be necessary for their preservation, men should 
thankfully acknowledge that God hath taken the best 
way in giving it us in his own unalterable phrase. 

If they prove that some matters of fact are made 
known to us by tradition that are not in the Scripture, 
or that any church orders or circumstances of worship 
then used are so made known to us, which yet we 
wait for the proof of» it will not follow that any of those 
are therefore divine institutions, or universal laws for 
the unchangeable obligation of the whole church. If 
there be some things historically related in the Scrip- 
ture, that were obligatory but for a season, and. ceased 
when the occasion ceased, as the washing of feet, the 
abstaining from things strangled and blood, the anoint- 
ing of the sick, the prophesyings one by one, 1 Cor, xiv. 
31. miraculous gifts and their exercise, &c. it will not 
follow, that they are universal laws to the church. 

We .will never take the pope's decision for a proof of 
tradition : nor will we receive it from pretended au- 
thority, but from rational evidence. Their saying, we 
are the authorised keepers of tradition, shall not go 
with us for proof. 

It is not the testimony of the Papists alone, who are 
not only a lesser part of the church, but a part that hath 
espoused a corrupt interest ag^ainst the rest, that we 
shall take for certain proof of a tradition, but we will 
prefer the testimony of the whole church beiore the 
Romish church alone. 

They that can produce the best records of antiquity, 
or rational proof of the antiquity of the thin^ they plead 
for, are of more regard in the matter of tradition than 
millions of unlearned men. Universal tradition is 
preferred before the tradition of the Ramish sect, and 
r€Uiojuil proof q{ nniiquity is preferred before ignorant 
surmises. But where both those concur universal con- 
unt, and records or other credible evidence of antiqui- 
ty, it is most valid. 



JUOOLIRO. -- 125 

As for the i^mish tr&ditions which they take for 
]Mirt of Grod's word; they mast produce sufficient proof 
that they came from the apostles, before we can receive 
them as apostolic tradition : and also that it was deliv- 
ered by the apostles as t, perpetual universal doctrine 
or Ikvr for the whole church. 

Either those traditions have evidence to prove them 
apostolical, or no evidence. If none, how can the pope 
know them f If they have evidence, why may not we 
ktiow it as well as the pope ? 

If there be any proof of these traditions, it is either 
some ancient records or monuments : or it is the prac- 
tice of the church ; but then how shall we know how 
long that practice hath continued, without recourse to 
the writings of the ancients ? Reports are very uncer- 
tain. If it may be known without the search of ancient 
records, then we may know it as well as they. 

If the pope and his priests have been the keepers of 
it, have they in all ages kept it to themselves or declared 
it to the church ? If they have concealed it, then it be- 
longed not to others : or else they were unfaithful and 
unfit for the office. Then how do succeeding popes 
and priests know it ? If they divulged it, then others 
know it as well as they. We have had abundance of 
preachers from among the Papists, who were once Pa- 
pists themselves, as Luther^ Melancthon, Zuingluit^ 
Calvin, Beza, Peter Maiiyr, Bucer, S^c, and yet they 
knew not apostolical traditions. 

It mars your credit with us, because we are able to 
prove the beginning of some of your traditions, or a 
lime when they had no being : also the death and burial 
of many things that have long gone under the name of 
traditions. 

You are so confounded between your ecclesiastical 
decrees and traditions, and your apostolical traditions, 
that we despair of learning to know one from the other : 
and of teeing under the hand of the pope and a general 
council a catalogue of the true apostolical traditions. 
It seems to us scarce fair dealing that in one thbusiand 
years time, the church could never have an enumeration 
and description of those traditions, with the proofs of 
them. 



126 jMtriT 

It b abominable impiety for yoa to equal your titdi* • 
tions with the Holy Scripture, till yon have enumeialed 
and proved them. It makes us soaped your traditioDa, 
when we perceive that they or their patrooa hare snch 
an enmity to the Holy Scriptures, that they cannot be 
rightly defended without casting some repronch upofi 
the Scriptures. But this is no new thing with the ap- 
plauders of tradition. The eiffhth general council at 
Constantinople, Can. 3, decreed that the image of Christ 
should be adored with equal honor with the holy Scripture. 

If your own councils themselves, are for the suffi- 
ciency of Scripture, what then has become of all your 
traditions ? Binius, p, 299, Council of Basil, Ragusii 
Orat. — " Faith and all things necessary to salvation, 
both matters of belief and matters of practice, are founded 
in the literal sense of Scripture, aTid only from that may 
argumentation be taken for the proving of those things 
that are matters of faith, or necessary to salvatiim ; 
and not from those passages that are spoken by allegory, 
or other spiritual sense. The Holy Scripture in the 
literal sense soundly and well understood^ is the infal- 
lible and most sufficient rule of faiJthP This is the 
Protestant doctrine. There is nothing any way neces- 
sary to faith or salvation, but what is contained in the 
Scriptures, either expressly, or as the conclasion in the 
premises. We grant tradition or church practices are 
very useful for our better understanding of some Scrip- 
tures : but, what is this to another tracfitional word ot 
God % Prove your traditions by inference from Scrip- 
ture and we receive them. 

This is the doctrine for Scripture. Sufficiency and 
perfection are the rule of faith and life, admitting no ad- 
dition as necessary, but explication. When this doc- 
trine, past so lately in a Popish council, you may see 
that the very doctrine of ti-adition equallea with Scrip- 
lure, or being another word of God, necessary to faith 
and salvation, containing what is wanting in Scripture, 
is but lately sprung up in the world. 

The Papists get liitle by their argument from tradi- 
tion; they lose by it all their cause. 

For two things they much plead tradition ; their pri- 
vate doctrines and practices, in which they disagree 



from ftU Cbrisliaiis ; and there they lose their labor 
wkh the judicious : because they give us no sufficient 
I»r!eof that their tradiliea is apostolical, and because the 
dtsaent of other churches showeth that it is not universal. 

The other cause for which, they plead tradition is the 
doctrine* of Chrii^anity itself ; with a design to lead 
men to the church of Rome : as if we must be no Chris- 
tians, unless we are Christians upon the- credit of the 
pope, aiid his subjects. 

We do not striye against tradition or testimony of an- 
tiquity for the Scripture, or for Scripture doctrine : we 
make much advantage of such just tradition. We ac- 
cept our religion from both the hands of Providence that 
bring it us ; Scripture and tradition ; and we abhor the 
contempt which those partial disputers cast upon Scrip- 
ture ; but we are>not therefore so partial ourselves as to 
refuse any collateral or subordinate help for our faith. 
Thd more testimonies the better. The best of us have 
need of all the advantages for oar faith that we can get. 
When they have ext<^ed the certainty of tradition to 
the highest, we gladly join with them, and accept of any 
certain tradition of the mind of God. I advise all who 
would prove themselves wise defenders of the faith, to 
take heed of rejecting arguments from providences, or 
any necessary testimony of man, especially concerning 
matter of fact, or of rejecting true church history, be- 
cause the Papists overvalue it under the name of tra- 
dition, lest such prove guilty of the like partiality and 
injuriousness to the truth as the Papists are. Whereas 
the Papists imagine, that this must lead us tb their church 
for tradition; I answer we go beyond the Papists in ar- 
guing for just tradition of the Christian faith, and make 
far greater advantage of it than they can do. They ar- 
gue but from authoritative decision by the pope, under 
the name of church tradition, whereas we argue from 
true history and certain antiqfbity, and prove what we 
aay. 

Their tradition is no tradition : for it must be taken 
upon the credit of a man, supposed infallible [by super* 
natural, if not miraculous endowment ; which is not tra- 
dition but prophesy. ^ If they prove the man to be such 
a man, it is all one to the church whether he say that 



in ISSVIT 

this was the aposdes* doctriiie, orthis I Mirer myself to 
jon finom God. For be is to qualified, lie lias the pow« 
er and credit of a prophet or aposde himself : therefore 
they most prove the pope to be a prof^iet, before their 
traditioB can eet credit : and when diey ImTe done that 
there is no need of it. * 

When Papbts speak of tradition coiifnsedly« they give 
us just reason to call them to define their tradition, and 
tell us what tbey mean by it, before we dispute with 
tbem upon an ambiguous word ; seeing they are.so divid- 
ed among themselves, that one party understands one 
thin? by it, and another another thing ; which we must 
not suffer those jugglers to jumble together and confoand. 

Another advantage in which we^ beyond the Papists 
for tradition, is, that as we ai^e not firom ^e mere pre- 
tended supernatural infallibility or authority of any ; as 
they do, but firom rational evidence of true antiquity ; 
so we argue not from a sect or party as they do, but from 
the universal church. As far as the whole church of 
Christ is of larger extent and greater credit than the 
Popish party, so far is our tradition more credible than 
theirs. 

The Papists are fewer by far than ihe rest of the nom- 
inal christians in the world. And the testimony of many 
is more than of a part The Papists above other parties 
have espoused an interest that leads them to pretenl 
and corrupt tradition, and bend all things to that inter- 
est of their own, that they may lord it it over all the 
world : but the whole church can have no such interest 
and partiality. The Papbts are but one side ; and he 
that will judge righdy, must hear the other sides speak too. 
But the tradition that we make use of, b from all sides 
concurring ; even Papists themselves ^ree with us in 
many points. 

Our tradition reacheth farther than the universal church, 
for we take in all rational evidence of Jews, heatheds, 
heretics, and persecutors ; that bear witness to the mat- 
ters of fact, and what was the doctrine and practice of 
the christians in their times, and what books they made 
the ground of their fieiitb. So that as impartial hbtory 
or testimony difiereth from private assertion, or from the 
testimony of one party only ; so doth our tradition excel 



JUOOLIHO. 129 

both the sorts of Popish traditioiif both that of the Paptl, 
and that of 4he cooncil party. 

But wo have not done wkh them, till tradition has 
given thetn their mortal stroke. You appeal to tradition, 
to tradition you shall go. But what tradition? The 
tradition of the catholic church 1 and where is that to.be 
found and known ? but in the profession and practice of 
the church, and in the records of the church I 

Tlie gre^^ questions between you and us, are these : 
Whether the pope be the head and sovereign ruler of 
the whole catholic church ? suid whether the catholic 
church and the Roman are of equal extent ? 

Inquire of the present church : and there we have the 
profession and practice of all the Greeks ; the Syrians ; 
the Moscovites ; the Georgians ; ^nd all others dispers- 
ed throughout the Turk's dominions, with the Jacobites, 
Armenians, Egyptians, Abassines, and all other church- 
es in Europe, &>c. which disclaim the headship of the 
Roman pope. All those with one mouth proclaim that 
the church of Rome is not, and ought not to be the mis- 
tress of the world, or of all other churches, but that the 
pope for laying such claim Is a usurper, and the anti- 
christ. This is the tradition of the Greeks; of the Ab- 
assines, and the greatest part of the church on earth 
agree in this. What then is become of the Roman sov- 
ereignty, by the verdict of tradition ; even from the 
vote of the greatest part of the church ? Rome hath no 
right to its pretended sovereignty, Babylon is fallen by 
the judgment of tradition. 

If you say that all those are heretics or schismatics, 
and therefore have no vote, we answer ; a minor party, 
partial and corrupt, seeking dominion over the rest, may 
not step into the tribunal, and pass sentence against the 
catholic church, or the greatest part of it. 

But your common saying is, that the Greeks, 
Protestants, and all the rest were once of your church, 
and departing from it, they can have no tradition 
but yours. Go to former ages, seeing it is not the 
proieat church, whose voice you will regard. But 
how shall wo know the Way and mind of ^ ages 
pastt If by the present age^ ^n the greater part 
givetfa us tfaehr sense agawst you. If by the records of 



130 IVOOLIVO. 

those timei, we are content to hetr die tettimony of 
these. When we look into the ancients we find them 
against yon ; and no footsteps of your osorped sover- 
eignty, hut a contrary frame of goTemment, and a con- 
sent of antiquity against it. When we look into later 
history we find, how hy the advant^es of Rome's tem- 
poral greatness and the emperor*s residence there your 
greatness begun, and preparation was made to yout 
usurpation, and how the translation of the imperial seat 
to Constantinople made them your competitors, in the 
claim of an universal headship ; and how it being once 
made a question, you got it by a murdering emperor who 
took your side for his own advantage. It was not till 
Hildebrand^s days that you could get any possession. In- 
stead of apostolical tradition for your sovereignty ; eight 
hundred years after the days of Christ, you had not so 
much of the catholic church in your subjection, as you 
have now. At six hundred years after Christ no known 
part of the world acknowledged your universal sove^ 
eignty ; but only the Latin western church submitted to 
the pope as their patriach, and the first in order among 
the patriarchs. In the days of Constantino and the 
Nicene council, he was but a bishop of the richest and 
most numerous church of Christians : and for a hundred 
years af^er Christ, he was no more than the presbyter of 
a particular church. 

The Ethiopian churches of Habassia, the Indians, Per- 
sians, 6ccm were never your subjects. England, Scot- 
land and Ireland were not only long from under you, 
but resisted you, maintaining the council of Chalcedon 
against you, and joining with the eastern churches 
against you, about Easter day. The eastern churches 
also were never your subjects. 

*Canus Loc. Theol, lib, 6. cap. 7. saith ; not only the 
Greeks, but almost all the rest of the bbhops of the whole 
world,have vehemently sought to destroy the pHvHeges of 
the church of Rome : and indeed they had on their side, 
both the arms of emperors, and the greater number of 
churches : and yet they could never prevail to abrogate 
the power of the pope of Rome. The catholic chiirch 
was not then your subjects, when the greater number of 
churches, and most of the bishops of the whole world, as 



h 




JE8VIT 131 

i^ell as Greekfly were against you, and vehemently fought 
igainst.your pretended priyileges* 

Jiatnerius, contra Waldeneses Catol.in Bihliothetd 
Patrum^ Tom, 4. j?. 773* saith,. the churches of the Ar- 
DXenians, and Ethiopians, and Indians, and the rest 
which the. apostles converted, are not under the church 
(if Rome. What would you have plainer I You may 
conjecture at the numbers of those churches by what 
a legate of the pope that lived among them, saith of one 
corner of them, Jacob, a Viiriaco Histor. Orient, cap. 
77 : the churches in the easterly parts of Asia alone ex- 
ceeded in muhitude . the Christians both of the Greek 
and Latin Churches. Alas, how little a thing then was 
the Roman church ! 

If all this were not enough, the tradition of your own 
church destroys the papacy utterly. **A general coun- 
cil is above the pope, and may judge him and depose hinv; 
that is of faith, it is heresy to deny it ; and this is so sure 
that no wise man ever doubted it." This is the judg- 
ment of the general council of Basil, with whom that of 
Constance doth agree. Whether those councils were 
con^med or not, they confess them lawfully called and 
owned, and extraordinarily full. So they were their 
church representative ; and so the pope's sovereignty 
over the council is gone by tradition. If a free general 
council should be called, all the churches in the world 
must be equaUy there represented : and if they were so, 
then down goes the usurped headship of the pope: for 
most of the churches in the world are against it : and 
therefore in council they would have the major vote. 
And thus by the concession of the Roman representa- 
tive church the pope b gone by tradition. 



CHAPTER XII. 

' Papal Sovereignly. 

Another of the Roman frauds is this: Tkey pirtuade 
flie» ikat tiU Chrtelui the ProiesimnU^ and aH other 
chmr€h$9i w€re emu under the Papai wmmtigniff, and 



132 JBflVtt 

have uparaUd themiei9e$ wUkmti m^f jmd emmi 
and therefore we are mU uki w mmha ; mtd ime m 
wHe in general cotmcih^ Ate 

This is a vain accusation. Abundance of d wr d ie g 
had not any notable conunnnion with yon. The Gfeek 
churches whhdrew from your corannmion, but not fhw 
your subjection* If any of the palriarths or emperon 
of CoDstantmoi^ did for carnal ends submit to yen, it 
was not the act of the churches, nor owned, nor of kHig 
continuance. So that it was from your communion and 
not from your subjection that they withdrew. 

We that are now living, our fathers or our grandfttih 
ers, were not of your church: and therefore we aever 
did withdraw. 

There were churches in England before the Roman 
power was owned : therefore it was a sin to change, the 
first change was the sin, when they subjected themselves 
to you ; and not the later, in which they returned to 
their ancient state. 

The Germans or English or whoever did relinqoiah 
you, have as good reason for it, as for the relhiqoishiog 
of any other sin. If they did by the unhappiness- of ill 
education or delusion, submit to the usurped sovereignty 
of the pope they had no reason to continue in such ao 
error. Repentance is not vice, when the thing repented 
of is a vice. Justify therefore your usurpation, or else 
it is in vain to be angry with us for not adhering to the 
usurper, and the many corruptions that he brought into 
the church. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Sekitm, 



Another deceit that they manage with great confi- 
dence is this : If the chureh 0/ Jtame he the true 
church : then yours is not the true church, and then 
you are uhismaiiee im eqkerating.Jrom itfkui the 
church. of,Rowte ts the true, ekurch} for you r^oiU ton- 
feu ii 9Hn m iruo €kuifch^ whe^ I^md wrw9e Amopkik 




JuooLiifo. 133 

to the Rimnms^ and if it ceased to he a true tkureh^ 
UU u$ when it ceased^ if you can: if it ceased to be a 
true church, it was either by heresy^ or schism, or 
apastacy, 

A man would think that children can see the pal- 
pable fallacy of this argument ; and yet of few do the 
learned Papists make more use. The deceit lieth in 
tbe ambiguity of the word church* It is taken often in 
Scripture for one particular churchy associated for per ^ 
sonal cammunion in God*s worship. And thus there 
were many churches in a country, as Judea^ and Oalaiia. 
It is taken by ecclesiastical writers often for an associ- 
ation of many of those churches for communion by 
their p€utors ; such as were diocesan, provincial, national 
churches ; whereof most were then ruled by assemblies, 
where a bishop, archbishop, metropolitan or partriarch, 
as they called them did preside. It is taken in Scrip- 
ture for the body of Christ ; the holy catholic or uni- 
versal church containing all true believers as mystical, 
or all professors of trUe faith as visible. It is taken by 
the Papists for one particular church which is the mis^ 
tress or ruler of all other churches. 

If the question be of a true particular church, we 
grant that the church of Rome was a true and noble 
church, in the days of Paul and long after; and thus 
Paul owneth it in his epistle as a true church. To 
the question when it ceased to be a true church : I an- 
swer, what matter is it to us whether it ceased or not, 
any more than whether Corinth, Ephesus, Coloses, Thes- 
salonica, or Jerusalem be true churches or be ceased / In 
charity we regard them all: but otherwise what is it to 
the faith or salvation of the world, whether Rome or any 
one of those be yet a true church, or ceased / I know 
not that there b any church at Coloses or Philippi, or 
some other places that had then true churches : and dotk 
it therefore follow that I am not a true believer? What 
would yeu say to one who should argue thus concerning 
other churches, as those men do of Rome ? and say, if 
Philippi, be a time church, then England has no true 
churches, if ft be not, when did it cease to be a true 
church X Would you not answer him : what is it to me 
whether Philippi he a true church or not 2 may not we 

12 



134 iBt vrr 

■ 

aod tlwj be both true dnrchesf kov pivfe pm ibatl 
mud whether it be ceaied or not cewod, dolk no whk 
concern my £uth or lelTatioDy &rtber tfaaa as mj chaii* 
ty is to be exercised towards them. Sosay we ofBoaw, 
it was a true partkokur church in the aposlle*s days. And 
if it be still a true church what hinditn but wu may be 
so too? But whether it be so or aoC, k litde to me. It 
eoncemeth not my faith or salvatioA to kaow whether 
there be any such place as Rome mm earth, or whetber 
it were consumed loi^ ago. If a man wcve so mmpfe • 
to believe a report that Rome was destroyed by Chsifes 
chT Bourbon, and never inhabited, or had a pope nace, 
be were but such a heretic as Pope Zachary and Bisbop 
Boniface made of Virgilius, lor hn l diag diere be anti- 
podes. 

If you take the word ckmnk for a diacewa or pa- 
triarchal chaicfa, or association of davches; supposing 
such forms proved warrantable, the same answer servetb 
as to the fbst. 

But if by a irwe ekmrek you sasaa either die whole 
universal churdi : or a mistress church that aMst role all 
the rest, there never was such a ^nrck in Paul's days. 

Therefore we turn this argument of the Papists against 
tbems^ves. If ikt ekwrtk mf Rmm wren neiiher ikt 
wkmU eatkMc ekmnk, asr tke wuMirtMs mf M other 
ckmrckes wkem Pmd wrwit kis epidk. tm tktm^ then it 
If not so aov, nor might U he sm atemmdedm That the 
church of Rome was aot the whole catholic ckarch then, 
no man caa doubt, that reads what a ckorch there was 
at Jerusakm, what a ctarch at Epkeii, and Phikdel- 
phia, Smyrna, Tkyatira, Laodicca, Ceiinib, and abun- 
dance moffcw ¥rkeffe doth Panl once name them either 
tbe catkofic church, or the mistress or raler of all churchesi 
or give the least kiat of any such thing! or mention any 
pope among tkem whom the whole world was lo take to 
{o^heiraovufeignhead/ Is it not an incredUe thing that 
Kri» and aU the apostks would forget to make any 
of tUi privilege, or teach them how to use it, 
other charebes ther duty in obeying the church 
ii if indeed they had been made die mistiess 
that can believe what they list, amy say 
Ibt But for my part I will never accuse 




11799L1KO. 135 

Paul and aH tiie s^xMtles, of so great oblivion or negli* 
gence. And ^refore I coaclacb, Rome was neither 
the universal tharch, nor the mistress church then, and 
therefore it ii not so to be accounted now. 

But Ihe matter of the Roman church must be distin- 
guished from its new poUtiead fann. For the matter, so 
many of its members as are true christiaas, are part of 
the catholic church of Christ though not the whole. But 
as to the political form of the Roman church, as it is a 
^fodj leaded by one claiming an universal monarchy, so 
the form is false and antichristian, and therefore the 
church as Papal can be no better. 

This is our answer to the question, whether the church 
of Rome be a true church ? There are I doubt not 
amang them many true members of the catholic church, 
though I am confident that salvation is much more rare 
and difficult with them, than it is with the reformed cath- 
olics ; but the pope as a pretended aniversal monarch is 
a false head, and consequently their Papal church, as 
such, is a false antichristian charch, and no true church 
of Jesus Christ. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Unity. 

Another great- endeavor of the Papists is, to makt 
men believe that they only have a^xedness^tmity, consi^^ 
tency and settledness in religion : but we are still at 
uncertaifUyy incoherent^ not tied together by any certain 
bond, but still upon divisons^ and upon change. 

Is diis difference so great a business ? Do not those 
cheaters know, that if for this they would reproach us, 
they must do so by themselves I Know they not that 
among their own schoolmen there is the same difference ? 
and l^ow they not that if differences in ceremonies or 
modes should unchurch us, or disgrace us, it would fall 
as foul on tiie whole catholic church, in the very primi- 
tive times ? Did they never read of the difference be- 
tween the Asiaa and the Reman churches, dl)out the 



136 JBIUIT 

celebration of Easter day, and how Polycratet .tad the 
rest did plead tradition against the cfanrch of Rome'i L 
tradition; how Irenseus dad reprehend the Bishop of |i 
Rome for his uncharitable censure of the churches for m 
small a difference? and how Polycarp .and AniOBtus 
Bishop of Rome could not agree, as building upoi 
contrary traditions : but yet maintained Christian peace; 
Eusehius Lib. 5. Hist. Eccl. cap. 26* The £n^»h and 
Scottish churches long after that adhered to the Asias 
way ; even after the council of Nice had ended the 
controversy on the Roman side. Who knows not bow 
many more controversies greater than those of ours have 
been among the churches of Christ, without their un- 
churching or disparagement to religion ? 

For the doctrinal controversies^ most of them lie more 
in words than in sense, and all of them are far from the 
foundation, though they be about Christ, who is the 
foundation. Those of us that say Christ died for adl, 
and those that say he died not for all, do agree as your 
schoolmen do, that he died for all, as to the sufficiency 
of his death and price : but he died not for all as to the 
actual efficiency of pardon and salvation : is not thb 
your doctrine ? and is not this ours 1 and are you not as 
much disagreed about it as we 1 what else meant tlie 
late decision against the Jansenists ? and the persecution 
of them in France 1 And yet have you the face to 
make this a reproach of us ? For the righteousness of 
Christ, we are cojnmonly agreed that it is both his obe- 
dience and passion that we are justified and saved by : 
though we are not all of a mind about the reason of their 
several interests. 

For different forms of worship those men do wilfully 
forget what a number of offices and Mass books have 
been among themselves and other churches : and the 
number of Litanies or Liturgies of ^veral ages and 
churches they have given us. 

As for the changes and unfixedness which they charge 
us with, we are contented that • our }nrinciples and our 
practices be compared with the Papists, and then let 
modest and judicious enemies be judges which of us are 
more fixed, or more mutable. 

For our principles^ we take only Christ to be the chief 




foundation of our faith, and hb inspired prophets and 
apostles to be the secondaiy foundation : whereas the 
Papists buiM upon many a most ungodly man, because 
he is the Pope of Rome* Which of those is the firmer 
foundation I 

We take nothing for our rule but the sure word of 
Grod contained in the Holy Sci^iptures : but the Papists 
take the decrees of all popes and councils for their rule. 
Our rule they confess to be divine and infallible : their 
nde we affirm to be human and fallible. Which 
then is like to be more firm? Our rule the Sacred 
Scriptures in the original languages, as to the words, 
and the matter of them, as to the sense, the Papists 
themselves confess is unchangeable ; but they will not 
say as much of theif own ; that alteration which Pope 
Sixtus, and Pope Clement made in the vulgar Latin 
Bible, which is one part of their rule, and the other part 
is their decrees, of which Pope Leo. X* Bulla contr, 
Latth, saith, the popes our predecessors never erred in 
their canons and constitutions. And yet Pope Julius 
II. said is his general council at the Lateran with their 
approbation, Cont, pragmat, sanct monitor. — Though 
the institutions of sacred canons, holy fathers, and popes 
of Rome — and their decrees be judged immutable, as 
made by divine inspiration ; yet the pope of Rome, who, 
though of unequal merits, holdeth the place of the eter- 
nal king, and the maker of all things, and all laws on 
earth, may abrogate these decrees when they are abused. 

You see here from the mouth of infallibility itself, if 
•the Roman faith have any, of what continuance we may 
judge their immutable decrees to be, which are made as 
by divine inspiration: they are immutable till the pope 
abrogate them, who being in God*s place, is of power 
to do it. 

We have a rule that was perfected by Christ and his 
apostles, to which nothing can be added, and therefore 
we are at a certainty for our religion : for we have a 
sure and perfect rule from heaven. Nothing may be ad- 
ded to it, or taken from it. But the Papists do profess 
that the determinations of the pope or council may make 
a point, and so five thousand points, for there is no cer- 
tain number, to be articles of faith, and necessary to 

12» • 



188 JESUIT 

salvation. So that the Papists nerer knem wiieii tfaek 
fahh is perfect and grown to its IbD stature. For ought 
they know a thounnd more articles may be added. 
And yet these men of uncertain growing fiiidi, ha^e the 
face to persuade men that we are mntaUe, and theysie 
fixed. 

We never changed our head, our Lord, our feith, sr 
one article of our faith : if malice itwlf be able to cbuge 
us with changing the smallest article of our iaith, let 
them say their worst : we change not our rule, the Holy 
Scriptures, nor one claase or sentence of it, but endesf- 
or the preservation of the same, which at the fint we re- 
ceived. In our contests with the Papists, our great of- 
fence is at their mutation from the ancient rule ajod way ; 
we contend but for the faith once delivered to the saints: 
the old way with us is the good way: we abhor a 
new religion. If we change in any thing, it is 
but by repenting of our former changeableness while 
our nation was Popish ; having then changed from tke 
apostolic simplicity, we change from that sinful change, 
and return to the ancient way again. And if we have 
made any further changes since our first change at the 
reformation, it is but perfecting the change to antiquity 
' and apostolic simplicity, which we then begun. Rome 
was not built in one day, and b not pulled down in a 
day. The work of reformation is but one change, 
though it be not done all at one time. If we find some 
$(H>ts of Romish dirt upon us, that escaped us at our 
ficM washing, it b no dangerous mutability yet to wash it 
odl If a man converted by saving grace be not perfect- 
U rkl of all hb former sin the first day of hb conversion, 
«^Hikl be be repcoached as mutable for striving against 
it all hb life afrer, and casting it off by degrees as he is 
able T If a man did but recover by degrees from the 
relics of hb disease, they will not therefore reproach him 
as mutable. If he sweep the dust or dirt out of his house 
every day, they will not say, he b mutable, and knows 
not whero to rest* Those men might as well reproach 
us Ai mutabley because we rise in the morning and do 
not stUl He In bod ; or because we go to bed at night, 

^^|m1 do not stay up entirely. 

Vklut what b It that we are changeable in 1 We have 

1 



JVOGLllfO. 139 

changed none of the substance of worship: did we bap- 
tise before, and do we not so still ? did we pray or admin- 
ister the Ldrd*8 Supper before, and do we not still ? what 
IS the change 1 Do these men think us so sottish as to 
place our religion in circamstances X God hath bid us 
pray continually: but he hath not told us whether we 
shall use a prayer-book or not, but left that to men's 
necessities or conveniences to determine. Doth a man 
change his religion or wor^ip of God, if he either begin 
or cease to use a book 1 but whether we use tliem, or 
not use them, is no part of our religion at all, but a mere 
accident, or common help and appurtenance. God hath 
not told preachers whether they shall use notes for their 
memory in preaching : to one it is a hindrance, to an- 
other a help. Doth a man change his religion when 
he changeth a custom of using notes? God hath not told 
us what chapter we shall read, or what psalm we shall 
sing, or what text we shall preach on this day or that 
day. What if one age think it best that pastors shall 
read no chapter preach on no text, and sing no psalm 
but by direction : and the next age think it meeter to 
le^ve that to each minister, as thinking it unfit to ordain 
such ministers as have not wit enough to choose their 
text, chapter, or psalm according to occasions. Will you 
say that here is a change of religion 1 These outside 
hypocrites tell the world what a thing they take religion 
to be, and in what they place it. What if one read a 
chapter with spectacles, and another without, or if one 
preach in a pulpit, and another below: or if one preach 
in a white garment, and another in a black : are we 
therefore of several religions 1 or is this any part of the 
worship itself? do we not all stand or sit at the hearing 
of a sermon, as we please 1 do we not kneel or stand at 
prayer as we please? Yea, do not men commonly in 
singing psalms or prayer or praise to God, sit or stand 
as they please? Doth standing, kneeling, or sitting 
make another religion, or any part of it ? And for mar- 
rying, burying, baptising, and- the rest, we have altered 
no part at all of the worship of God ; what ignorant 
souls are these, that think that the using a book, or a ges- 
ture, or certain words to the same sense, make different 
religion, or ordinances of worship ? Those are tricks 



140 JBt VIT 

that none but the ignorant will be dehided with, that 
know not what religion or worship is. Thejr may as 
well say if I change my lecture day from Tlmrsday to 
Friday, that I changa my religion or the worship of Grod. 

But they have changed Uie very essence of their 
church ; tlie officers, the doctrine, the discif^ne, the 
worship, as though they had been born for change, to 
turn all upside down. 

In the primitive times the church had no univenal 
monarch but Christ: but they have set up a new uni- 
versal monarch at Rome. 

In the primitive times the catholic church was the 
universality of Christians : they have changed it to be 
only the subjects of the pope. 

In the primitive times Rome was but a particular 
church as Jerusalem and other churches were : but they 
have changed it, to be the mistress of all churches. 

For many hundred years after Christ, the Scripture 
was taken to be a sujficient rule of faith : but they have 
changed it to be but/mr^ oftht rtde. 

In the ancient church. aU sorts were earnestly exhor- 
ted to read, or hear, and study the Scripture in a known 
tongue : but they have changed that into a desperate re- 
straint, proclaiming it the cause of all heresies. 

In the ancient church the bread and wine was the 
body and blood of Christ representative and relative: 
but they have changed it into the real body and blood. 

Heretofore there was bread and wine remaining after 
the words of consecration : but they have changed so, 
that there remaineth neither bread, nor wine, but the 
qualities and quantity, without the substance, and this 
must be believed, because they say it, against Scripture 
and antiquity, and sense itself. 

In the ancient church the Lord*$ Suppet was €idmin' 
istered in both kinds^ bread and wine to all : but they 
have lately changed this into one kind only to the peo- 
ple, denying them one half of the sacrament. 

Of old the LortTs Supper was but the coMMemora* 
tion of the saeifice of Christ upon the cross^ and a 
sacrament of our communion with him and his members: 
but now they have changed it into a propitiatory sa- 
crifice for the sins of the quick and dead : and in it 



JveoLuro. 141 

they adore a piece of bread as very God, with divine 
worship. 

Of old, men were taught to make daily confession- 
of Jtft, and beg pardon ; and when they had done all, 
to confess themselves unprofitable servants : but now 
they are so chanffed, that they pretend not only to be 
peifect without sin, and. to merit by the condignity of 
their works with Ood, but to supererogate and- be more 
perfect than innocence could make them, by doing more 
than their duty. - 

Of old those things were accounted sins deserving 
hell, and needing the blood of Christ for pardon, which 
now are changed into venial sins, which properly are no 
sins, and deserve no more than temporal punishment. 

Of old the saints had no proper merits to plead for 
themselves ; and now men have some to spare for the 
buying of souls out of purgatory. 

Of old the pastors of churches were subject to the rul- 
ers of the commonwealth; even every soul, not only for 
wrath, but for conscience' sake was obliged to be sub>» 
ject: but now. all the clergy are exempted from secular 
judgment, and the secular power is subject to them : for 
the pope hath power to depose princes, and dispossess 
them of their dominions, and put others in their room, 
and dissolve the bonds of oaths and covenants, in whicfr 
the subjects were obliged to them, and to allow men to 
murder them. 

I might fill a volume with all the changes they have 
miide in doctrines^ and church orders, and discipline, 
and religious orders and their discipline, and in worship 
and ceremonies. Their Liturgy or Mass-book hath been, 
changed, and abundance of additions it hath had since 
the beginning of it. 

Now I am con tent, that any impartial man shall judge 
whether Papists or the reformed churches are the more 
mutable and Unsettled in their religion f and which of 
them is at the greater certainty^ firmness, and immuta- 
bility ? 



1 42 sMuvir 

CHAPTER XV. 

JVovctty omf Suecfsfion. 

Another fraud of the Papists, whkh they place not 
the least of their confidence in, is this : ikty persuade 
ike people that our ekurck and religion are hut new, 
of the other day^$ invention: and that theirs is the 
only old religion. And therefore they call t^pan us is 
give them a catalogue of the professors of our religion 
in all ages ; which they pretend we cannot do : and ask 
us where our church was before Luther; 

To this we shall give them a hrief hut satisfactory 
answer. We are so fully assured that the oldest relig- 
ion is the best since the date of the Gospel, that we are 
contented our whole cause shall stand or ifall by this tri- 
al. Let him be esteemed of the true religion, that is of 
the oldest religion. This is the main difference between 
us and the Papists. We are for no religion that is not 
as old as the days of the apostles : but they are for the 
novelties and additions of popes and councils. Poly' 
dore Virgil Inven. Rerum^ lib. 8. c. 4. calling us a sect, 
gives you a just description of us, ^* having once got 
leave to speak that sect did marvelously increase in a 
short time ; which is called evangelical^ because they 
affirm that no law is to be received which htlongeth to 
salvation^ but what is given by Christ or the apostles^ 
Yet these very men have the face to charge us with nov- 
elty ; as if Christ and his apostles were not of sufficient 
antiquity for them. Our main quarrel with them is, for 
adding new inventions in-religion, and their principal 
business against us is to defend it, and yet they call 
theirs the old religion, and ours the new. 

That which is most conformed to the doctrine and 
practice of Christ and his apostles, is tfie truly ancient 
religion and church. But our religion and church is 
most conformed to the doctrine and practice of the apos- 
tles : therefore it is the truly ancient religion and church. 

That religion which is most conformed to the Holy 
Scripture is most conformed to the doctrine and practice 
of Christ and his apostles. But our religion and churches 



juoojlinjd. 143 

are most conformed to the Holy Scriptures. They can 
say nothing against thb but that the Scripture is insuf- 
ficient without tradition : but we have no rule of faith 
\irhich is not by themselves confessed to be true : they ac- 
knowledge Scripture to be the true word ofn&od ; so 
that the truth of our rule is justified by themselves. Let 
them show us as good evidence that their additional ar- 
ticles of faith or laws of life came from the apostles, as 
we do that the Scriptures came from them, and then 
we shall confess that we come short of them. Let^them 
take the controversies between us point by .point, and 
bring their proof, and we will bring ours, and let that 
religion carry it that is apostolical. Their traditions in 
matter of faith superadded to the Scripture, are mere 
heretical or erroneous forgeries, and they can give us no 
proof that ever they were apostolical. The Scripture 
affirmeth its own sufficiency ; and therefore excludeth 
their traditions. In their own general council at Basil, 
the Scripture sufficiency was defended. The ancient 
fathers were for the sufficencfy of Scripture. Their tra- 
ditions are ■ the opinions of a dividing sect, contrary to 
the traditions or <k>ctrine of the present catholic church : 
the far greater part of Christians being against them. 
For some hundred years after Christ, most of their pre- 
tended traditions were unknown or abhorred by the 
Christian church, and no such things were in being 
among them. The chief points of controversy maintain- 
ed against us, are not only without Scripture, but against 
it, and thence we have full particular evidence to dis- 
prove them. If the Scriptures be true, as they confess 
them to be, then no tradition can be apostolical or true, 
that is contrary to them. The Papist's tradition b, that 
the clergy is exempt from the magistrate's judgment : 
but the Holy Scriptures saith, let every soul be subject 
to the higher powers^ Rom. xiii. The Papists* tradition 
b for serving God publicly in an unknown tongue : but 
the Holy Scripture b fully against it. Their tradition b 
against laymen's reading the Scripture in a known tongue, 
without special Ucense from their ordinary : but Scrip- 
ture and all antiquity are against them. 

These seven wkys we know their traditions to be de- 
ceitful ; because they are unproved ; against the sujQicien- 



144 iHtiriT 

cy of Scripture, their own former confessions, and the 
consent of the fathers ; contrary to the judgment of tlie 
catholic church; once the church was widioQt them; 
and many of them are contrary to express Scripture* 

If Scripture will show which of us is nearest the doe- 
trine and practice of the apostles, then the controversy 
is ended. For we provoke them to try the cause by 
Scripture, and they deny it. We profess it is the rok 
and test of our religion ; but they appeal to another rde 
and test. Thus you may see which is the old religion. 

Our church and religion have continued from the days 
of Christ till now. The promise of Christ cannot be 
broken. Christ promised in his word, that that chtorch 
and religion which are most conformed to the Scriptures, 
shall continue to the end : but our church and religion 
are most conformed to the Scripture : therefore Christ 
hath promised that it shall continue to the end. 

The Chrbtian religion and catholic church have con- 
tinued from the days of Christ till now. But ours is the 
Christian religion, and catholic church : therefore ours 
hath continued from the days of Christ until now. - That 
religion which hath all the essentials of Christianity, and 
doth not deny or destroy any essential part of it, is the 
Christian Religion. That religion which the apostles 
were of is the Christian religion. They who believe all 
that is in the Holy Scripture are of the Christian reli- 
gion ; but thus do the reformed churches believe. 

They who are of that one holy catholic church, where 
Christ is tlie head and all true Christians are members, 
are of the true church ; for there is but one catholic 
church. 

Tliey who are sanctified, and justified, have the love of 
God in them, are members of the true catholic church : 
but such are all that are sincere professors of our reli- 
gion. 

But all this will not serve them without telling them 
where our church was before Luther: to this we an- 
swer we have no peculiar catholic church of our 
own ; for there is but one, and that is our church : where- 
ever the christian church was^ there was our church. 
Wherever any Christians were congregated for Grod's 
worship, there were churches of the same sort« as our 



jvciiGLiira. 145 

pbiticalar churches. Wherever Christianity was, there 
bur religion was ; for we know no religion but Chris- 
tianity. Would you have us give a catalogue of all 
the Christians in the world since Christ ? Or would you 
have us as vain as Tuberville who names some popes, 
about twenty professors of their faith in each age, as if 
twenty or thirty men were the catholic church : or as 
if those men were proved to be Papists by his naming 
themf 

Our religion is Christianity. Christianity hath cer- 
tain essentials, without which no man can be a Christian ; 
and it hath moreover many precious truths, and duties 
necessary to the better being of a Christian. Our being 
as Christiatas is in the former ; and our strength and in- 
crease and better being are much in the latter. From the 
former, religion and the church are denominated. Our 
implicit and actual explicit belief, as the papists call 
thera, roust be distinguished ; or our general and our 
particular belief. And also the positives of our belief 
must be distinguished from the implied negatives ; and 
the express articles themselves, from their implied con- 
sectaries. 

Now I shall tell you where our church hath been in 
all ages since the birth of Christ. 

In the days of Christ and his apostles our church was 
where they and all Christians were : and our religion was 
with them in all its parts, both essential and perfective. 
That isi we now believe all to be true that was delivered 
by the apostles as from God, with a general faith ; and 
all the essentials and as much more as we can under- 
stand, with a particular faith. But we cannot say that 
with such a particular faith we believe all that the apos- 
tles believed or delivered ; for then we must say that 
we have the same degree of understanding as they ; and 
that we understand every word of the Scriptures. 

In the days of the apostles themselves, the consecta- 
ries, and implied verities, and rejection of all heresies 
wer^ not particularly and expressly delivered either in 
Scripture or tradition. 

In the next ages after the apostles, our church was the 
one catholic church, containing all true Christians, headed 
by Jesus Christ : and every such Christian was a mem- 

13 



146 JEfUlT 

ber of it The essential parts of our leligioR were con- 
tained both in the Holy Scriptures, and in the public 
professions, ordinances, and practices of the church in 
those ages, which you call traditions ; and the rest of it, 
even all the doctrines of faith and universal laws of God, 
which are its perfective parts, were fully contained in 
the Holy Scripture. And some of our rejections and 
consectaries, were then gathered and owned by tbe 
church, as heresies occasioned the expressing of them: 
and the rest Were all implied in the apostolical Scrip- 
ture doctrine which they preserved. 

By degrees many errors crept into the church : so, 
that neither the catlmlic church, nor one true Christian 
did reject any essential part of Christianity. All parts of 
the church were not alike corrupted with error, but some 
more, and some less. The whole church held the Holy 
Scripture itself, and so had a perfect general or implicit 
belief, even while by evil consequences they oppugned 
many parts of their own profession. 

When in process of time by claiming the universal 
sovereignty, Rome had introduced a new pretended 
catholic church, by superadding a new bead and form, 
there was then a two-fold church in the West ;. the Chris- 
tian as Christian headed by Christ ; and the Papal as 
Papa] headed by the pope ; and by that usurped monarchy 
they endeavored to make but one of them, by making both 
tbe heads essential, when before one only was tolerable. 
If the matter in any part may be the same ; and the 
same man may be a Christian and a Papist, and so the 
same assemblies : yet still the forms are various : and 
as Christians and part of the catholic church, they are 
one thing : but as Papists and members of the separat- 
ing sect, they are another thing. 

In the time of the Romish usurpation, our church was 
visible in the lowest degree among the Papists them- 
selves, not as Papists, but as Christians. For they ne- 
ver did deny the Scriptures, nor the ancient creeds, nor 
baptism, tbe Lord's Supper, nor any of the substance of 
our positive articles of religion. They added a new re- 
ligion and church of their own, but istill professed, to hold 
all the old in consistency with it. 

Wherever the truth of the Holy Scriptures anti the 



jrvooLiiio. 147 

indent creeds 6f tke church was professed, there was 
our religion before Luther : but even among the Papists, 
the Holy Scriptures and the said creeds were visibly pro- 
fessed, theiefore among them was our religion. 

Popery itself was not ripe for a c<Nmiption of the 
Christian faith professed, till Luther's opposition height- 
ened thenu For the Scripture was frequently before, 
by Papists held to be a most sufficient rule of faith, as I 
have showed from the council of Basil ; and consequently, 
tradition was only pleaded as conservatory and exposi- 
tory of the Scripture, but now the council of Trent hath 
equalled them, when they found that out of Scripture 
they were unable to confute or suppress the truth. 

At the time of the Church's oppression by the Papa- 
cy, our Religion was visible, and so our Church : in a 
more illustrious sort, among the Christians of the most of 
the world, Greeks, Ethiopians, and the rest^ who never 
were subject to the usurpation of Rome, but only many 
of them took him for the first patriarch, but not the 
governor of the universal church. So that here was a 
visibility of our church doubly more eminent than among 
the Romanists ; in that it was the far greatest part of 
the catholic church that thus held our religion, to whom 
the Papists were then but few ; and in that they did not 
only hold the same positive articles of faith with us, but 
also among their rejections did reject the chief of the 
Popish errors as we do. 

They rejected with us, the pope's Catholic Monarchy^ 
the pretended infallihility of the pope or his councils : 
the new form of the Papal church, as headed by him, 
with other points; which are the very fundamental con- 
troversies between us and the Papists. So that the ma^ 
jor part of the catholic church did profess it, with the 
rejection of the Papacy and Papal church, and so you 
may as easily see where our religion was before Luther, 
as where the catholic church, or most of Christians were 
before Luther. 

Our religion was professed with a yet greater rejec- 
tion of Romish corruptions, by many thousands that lived 
in the western church itself, and under the pope's nose, 
and opposed him in many of his ill endeavors against the 
church and truth, together with them that gave him the 



148 JEBvtr 

heariogt and were glad to be quiet, and gave way to hk 
tyranny, but ne^er consented to it 

Concerning those we have abundant evidence, though 
abundance more we might have had, if the power and 
subtilty of the Papal Action had not had the handling of 
them. Hbtories tell us of the bloody, wars and content 
tions that the emperors of both East and West have had 
with the pope to hinder his tyranny; and that they were 
forced by his power to submit to him, contrary to their 
former free professions* Treatises were written against 
him, both for the emperors and princes, and against his 
doctrine and tyranny. Histories and professions of the 
Albigenses, Waldenses, Bohemians and others were very 
numerous, and they affirmed about the year one thousand 
one hundred, that they had continued since the apostles, 
and no other original of them is proved. General 
Popish councils have contended and borne witness against 
the pope's superiority over a council. In that and other 
points, whole countries of their own are not yet brought 
over to the pope. They have still among themselves 
Dominicans, Jansenists, &c., who are reproached by the 
Jesuits. Most points of ours which we oppose to Po- 
pery, are maintained by some or other of them. But 
the fullest evidence is the certain history or knowledge 
*of the case of the common people and clergy among 
them, who are partly ignorant of the main matters in 
controversies between us, and are generally kept under 
the fear of fire, and sword, and torments ; so that tbe 
truth of the case is this : the Roman bishops were as- 
piring by degrees to be archbishops, and so to be pa- 
triarchs, and so to have the first seat and vote, and to be 
called the chief bishops or patriarehs^ dLiid at last they 
made another thing of their office, and claimed, about 
six hundred years after Christ, to be universal monarchs 
or governors of all the church. But though that claim 
was soon laid, it was comparatively but few, even in the 
West, that made it any article of their faith ; but multi- 
tudes sided with the princes that would have kept the 
pope lower, and the most of the people meddled not with 
the matter, but yielded to necessity, and gave place to 
violence, except the Albigenses, Bohemians, Wickliffites 
and the rest that more openly opposed. So that no man 



could judge qC the nmltimde clesriy, which side they 
were on, being forced by fire and sword, and having not 
the fieedom to profess their mindsb 
■'■ Our religion -was at first with the aposties, and the 
apostolic church : and for divers hundred years after, it 
was with the^ universal Christian church. Since Rome's 
usurpation, it was 6ven with the Romanists though abus- 
ed, and with the greater part of the catholic church that 
renounced Popery then, and so do now ; and abo with 
the opposers of th^ pope in the West This is the 
succession we plead, and where our church and religion 
still was. 

If any deny that we are of the same church and re- 
ligion with all that is truly christian, I easily prove 
it. They that ure Christians joined to Christ the head, 
are all of the same church and religion, for none else arc 
Christians or united to Christ, but the church which is 
his body : but all sincere Christians and we are united 
to Christ the head : therefore we are all of the same 
church and religion. 

They who believe-the Holy Scripture, and differ in no 
essential part of the Christian faith, are of the same 
church and religion : but so do both we and all true 
Christians: therefore Ve are all of one church and re- 
ligion. 

They who are truly regenerate, and justified, hating 
all known sin, longing to be perfect, loving God above 
all, and seeking first his kingdom and righteousness, and 
accounting all things but loss in comparison of Christ, arc 
all of the true catholic church, and the true Christian 
religionV but such are all that are sincere, of the reform- 
ed churches ; as we to prove others by our profession 
and practice, by which only they are capable of judging 
of us ; and to ourselves infallibly against all the enemies 
of our salvation in hell or earth, by the knowledge and 
acquaintance with our own hearts, and the experience of 
the work of God upon them. All the Jesuits in the 
world cannot persuade me that I love not God, and hate 
sin, and prefer not the love of Christ before all the 
world, when I feel and know that I do ; till they can 
prove that they. know my heart better than I do. 

If Christ consent to it, and we consent to it, then ve 

13* 



150 j%Bvn 

all who are sincere in our {Nrofeasion are of the true catb* 
olic church and religion; for if Ae conunU and wt comenti 
who is there that is able to break the match? But 
Christ consentethy and we consent. His consent is ex- 
pressed in his Gospel, that tekoever helievetk in Am 
shall not perish^ but hate everlasting life ; and wkih 
ever will may drink of the water of life freely. Our 
consent we openly i.Tofessed at baptism, and have fre- 
quently renewed ; and our own soub are acquainted with 
the sincerity of it, whatever any that know not our hearts 
may say against it. ' . 

All jl^at are truly baptized, and own their baptismal 
C03toii^t,are visiUe members of the true catholic church; 
for it is the very nature and use of baptism to enter us 
into that church. Protestants, are all truly baptized, 
and own their baptismal covenant : tlierefore we are all 
of the true catholic church. 

Tuberville says ; The true church of God hath had 
a continued succession from Christ But the Pro- 
testant church, and so of all other sectaries^ hath not a 
continued succession from Christ to this time. Judge 
what this man 6r any Papist ever said with sense and 
reason, to prove that the Eastern and Southern churches 
have no true succession. Are they not now of the same 
church and religion as ever they have been? All the 
change that many of thera have made, hath been but in 
the entertaining of some fopperies, common to Home 
and them : and if any of those, which you call sectaries 
can prove their succession, it destroys your argument 
and cause. 

We will begin with him at the first century, and so to 
the second ; and if he can prove that Jesus Christ, or 
the Virgin Mary, or John Baptist, or the apostles, ur 
any one of the rest that he hath named, were Papists, 
much more all of them, I am resolved to turn Papist. 
But unless be intended to provoke his reader to an 
irreverent laughter about this abuse of holy things, one 
would think he should not have named John Baptist, 
who was dead not onJy before Rome had a church, but 
also before the time that Bellarmin and his brethren pre- 
tended that Peter received his commission, to be the 
universal head. Did not that writer know that Protes- 



JVOGLINO. 151 

tents can give him the same names, as for them t And 
if printing them be proof, their proof is as good: if it 
be not, what proof shall we have / Our proof is the 
Holy Scriptures, written by the inspiration of the Holy 
Ghost in those tiroes. Thence we prove that the first 
church held the same belief as we have ; and we wiil 
thence prove that the catholic church was not then Pa- 
pists. Why else do we still appeal to Sci'iptures, and 
they refuse to stand the trial of it any otherwise than as 
expounded by the pope, but that we are confident, and 
they difiident of them ? We know the apostles' faith 
from the apostles ; but the Papists will not know it but 
from the present church of Rome. They tell you the 
apostles were for them : but how know we that? by the 
testimony of the next age : and where is that testimony ? 
because the fourth age was of their mind ; and how prove 
you that t because the present age is of their mind : but 
most Christians of the present age are against them : 
yet they are not of the church: it is only the present 
church of Rome ! but the present church of Rome repre- 
sented in a general council may err, but the pope can- 
not err in appoving a council. So that the sum is this : 
if the pope , himself may be jiidge, the apostles were 
Papists. 

I make no doubt, though Bellarrain deny it, but that 
other churches can prove as good a succession as the 
Roman, as to bbhops ; and Bellarmin after all gives up 
this mark as insufficient to prove a true church. Lib, 
3. de Ecchs, cap, 8. By his own confession then, suc- 
cession will not prove the Romanists a true church. 

As to a succession of religion, and a continuation of 
the cathoUc church, I am so far from declining it, in ar- 
gumentation, that I here solemnly profess to all Papists, 
who shall read these words, that, as soon as I shall 

SEE ANV CEaTAIN PROOF, BY CATALOGUE OR ANY OTH- 
ER WAY, THAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HATH SUCCES- 
SITKLY FROM AGE TO AGE BEEN PaFISTS, I WILL 
TURN PaFIST without DELAY: AND I CHALLENGE 
THEM TO GIVE V8 SUCH PROaF IF THEY CAN Z Or if 

they will prove that in the first age, or the second, or 
third, the catholic church were Papists, I am resolved 
to turn Papist: but I am most confident that they can- 



15^ JEfirtT 

not prove dmt in any one «ge to thif day, die cadnlk \^ 
church were Papists. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

DivertUf/ ofopbdtm. 

Another notable fraud of the Papists, is this : to con- 
found all their own error$ and eom^tians together, 
and then to instance in $ome of tho9t errors thai ore 
common to them with some others^ and to omit the es- 
sential parts of Popery. Thus they would make the 
world believe, that if they prove the antiquity of any 
points in difference between them and us, they do there- 
by prove the antiquity of Popery, and so of the succes- 
sion : so they would make our religion essentially to 
consist in every inferior difference between us. 

Suffer them not thus therefore 1o juggle in the dark, 
but distinguish between the essentials of popery, or the 
main difference between them and us, and the other 
errors, which are not proper to them alone. 

Bellarmin opens his juggling, lib, 4. de Eccles, cap, 9, 
where he pleadeth antiquity of doctrine as a note of the 
true church. Two waj's we ma}' by this mark prove 
our church. By showing the sentences of the ancients, 
by which we confirm all our tenets, and refute our ad- 
versaries. But this way is most prolix, and obnoxious 
to many calumnies and objections : the other way is 
shorter and surer, by showing first from the confession 
of tlie adversaries, that our tenets are the doctrine. of all 
the ancients. If the weakness or rashness of any Pro- 
testants be the Papists' strength, it is time for us to be 
more prudent : but if it be the Papists' unhappiness that 
cannot understand the ancients, but only from the pope 
or the Protestants, the fathers are fallen into the hands 
of babies as well as the Scriptures ; and the Protestants 
have too little wit if they will join with the pope in an 
abusive interpreting the fathers for the Papists. Bellar- 
min proceeds to cite Calvin, and the centurists, as giving 
them the fkthers, in the point of freewill^ Limbus, Con- 



JUOOLINO. 15S 

tupiscence, Lettt, ky baptism in necessity, Slc.^ there- 
fore by our confesnons antiquity is for the Papists. 
This is their shortest and surest way. Is not here great 
diffidence in the fathers, when they have more conft- 
dence in our sayings than their writings ? 

But this juggling will not serve the turn. Take up the 
essentials of Popery, and prove a catholic succession of 
tJiem, and you shall win the day. I here again solemnly 
promise and protest, that when ever I see a valid 
PROOF OF A Popish succession of th^se following 

POINTS, I WILL presently TURN PapIST : OR OF 
ANY ONB OF THEM, I WILL TAKE UP THAT ONE. And 

I provoke the Papists that boast of tradition, succession 
and antiquity, to do this if they are able. 

1. Let ihem prove that the pope of Rome is appointed 
by Christ to be the universal monarch, sovereign, governor, 
head of the catholic church, and the vicar of Christ on 
earth, and holding the place of God himself, whom all must 
obey : — 2j That the true and only catholic church is a socie- 
ty thus headed and governed by the pope, and that no man 
is a true member of the catholic church, that is not the 
subject of the pope as universal monarch : nor can any 
other be saved, as being without the church : — 3, That 
the church of Rome is by God's appointment the mistress 
of all other churches :---4, That the pope of Rome is in- 
fallible : — 5, That we cannot believe the Scriptures to 
be the word of God or the Scripture doctrine to be true, 
but upon the authoritative tradition of the Roman church, 
and upon the knowledge or belief of their infallibility : 
that is, we must believe in the pope as infallible, before 
we can ' believe in Christ, who it is pretended gave him 
that infallibility :-^, That no Scripture is by any man 
to be interpreted but according to the sense of the pope or 
Roman church, and the unanimous consent of the fathers : 
— 7j That a general council approved by the Pope 
cannot err; but a general council not approved by the 
pope may err :— 8, That nothing is to us an article of 
faith till it be declared by the pope or a general council ; 
though it was long before declared by Christ or hb apos- 
tles as plain as they can speak : — ^9, That a general 
council hath no more validity than the pope giveth it : — 
10, That no pastor hath a ^id ordination, unless it be 



t54 JBSVIT 

10, That no pastor hath a rtSUi ovfinatioa, ■ rf a w kW 
derived from the pope :— ll* That there are artidet if 
fmitb of necessity to our salration, which ace not coa- 
tained in the Holy Scriptnres, nor can be proved bj 
them : — 12, That such traditions are to be received widi 
equally pious affection and reverence as the Holy Scrip- 
tores : — 18, That images have equal honor with tke 
Holy Gospel: — 14, That the priesU of the catholic 
church ought to swear obedience to the pope as Christ*! 
vicar : — 15, That the pope shall be a temporal prince: 
— 16, That the pope and his clergy ought to be exempt- 
ed from the government of princes, and princes ought 
not to judge and punish the clergy, till the pope deliver 
them 10 their power, having degraded them:-^17. That 
the pope may disposess princes of their dominions, and 
give them to others, if those princes be such as he judg- 
eth heretics, or as will not exterminato heretics : — 18, 
That in such cases the pope may discharge all the sub* 
jects from their allegiance and fidelity : — 19, That the 
pope in his own territories, and princes in theirs, must 
burn or otherwise put to death, all that deny transub- 
stantiation, the pope^s sovereignty, or other doctrines, 
when the pope hath sentenced them:— -20, That the 
people should ordinarily be forbidden to read the Scrip- 
ture in a known tongue :-21, That public prayers, praises, 
and other public worship of God, should be perfomed 
constantly in a language not understood by the people : 
-*22, That the bread and wine in the eucharist, is tran- 
substantiated into the very body and blood of Christ ; so 
that it is no more true bread or wine, though our eyes, 
taste, and feeling tell us that it is : — ^23, That the con- 
secrated host is to be worshipped with divine worship, 
and called our Lord God : — ^24, That the pope may 
oblige the people to receiv<< the eucharist only in one 
kind, and forbid them the cup : — ^25, That the sms called 
venial by the Papists, are properly no sins, and de- 
serve only temporal punishment : — ^26, That we may 
be perfect in this life by this double perfection ; to have 
no sin, but to keep all God's law perfectly : to superero- 
gate, by doing more than is our duty: — 27,. That oor 
works properly merit salvation of God, by way of com- 
mutative justice, or by the condignity of the works as 



JveoLiNo 155 

{NToportioiied to the reward : — ^28, That priests should be 
forbidden marriage :— -29, That there b a fire called pur- 

nry, where souls are tormented, and where sin is par- 
)d, in another world: — 30, That in baptism there is 
an implicit vew of obedience to the pope of Rome : — 
31-, That God is to be worshipped ordinarily by the ob« 
lation of a true proper propitiatory sacrifice for the living 
and the dead, where the priest only shall eat and drink the 
'body and blood of Christ, while the congregation look on 
and partake not: — 32, That the^anon of Scripture is the 
same that is declared by the council of Trent. 

lam resolved to receive as many of them, as they 
can prove that they were in all ages the doctrine of the 
universal church. 

Till they perform that task, let them never more for 
shame call to us for catalogues or proof of succession. 
But if they are so unkind that they will not give us any 
proof of such a succession of Popery, we shall be ready 
to supererogate, and give them full proof of the negative, 
that ^ere hath been no such succession of those thirty 
two points* 

Certainly it belongeth to them that superinduce more 
articles of faith, to prove the continuation of their own 
articles through all ages. 

One of those articles, the pope's sovereignty, Tuber- 
ville proves in the first age from Peter's words. Act. xv. 
7, 8, 9, 10. God chose Peter to convert Cornelius and 
His company : therefore the pope is the universal mo- 
narch. Are you not convinced by that admirable argu- 
ment ? but he forgot that Bellarmin, Ragusius in Concil, 
Basil: and others say, **no article can be proved from 
Scripture, but from the proper literal sense." 

In the second age he hath nothing but the names of a 
few that never dreamt of Popery, and a canon which 
you must believe was by the apostles, that priests must 
communicate. 

In the third age he nameth fifteen bishops of Rome, 
of whom the last was deposed for offering incense to Sa- 
turn, Jupiter, d&c. but not a syllable to prove that one of 
those bishops was universal monarch ; much less that 
the catholic church was for sucb monarchy. But he tells 
you that the second and third age produced no councib; 



156 JMVit 

councils then ; and so you hare no snccesaion provei 
Yea, but, he saith, they have successions of popes, mar* 
tyrs and confessors, which is sufficient for their porposei. 

See the strength of Popery ! Rome had bishops, there- 
fore they were the universal rulers of the church : Rome 
had martyrs and confossors : therefore it was the mil- 
tress of all churches. Who can resist those arguments! 
but why did you not prove that your confessors and 
martyrs suffered for attesting the pope's sovereignty t if 
they suffered but for Christianity, that will prove them 
but Christians, and not Papists. Thus to the confusion 
of the Papists, they have nothing ta show for the suc- 
cession or antiquity of Popery for the three first ages. 
Worse than nothing : for he comes in with decretals of 
some of their bishops : decretals unknown, tilj lately.in the 
world : brought out by Isidore Mercator : but with so 
little cunning as left them naked to the shame of the 
world ; the falsehood of them being fully proved, and 
confessed by some of themselves. Here you see the 
first foundation of Papal succession, even a bundle of 
fictions, lately fetched whence they please to cheat the ig- 
norant part of the world. 

In the fourth and fifth ages Tuberville makes us 
amends for his want of proof from the three first. 
But what is that to a succession, while the three first ages 
are strangers to Popery ? His first proof is from the 
council of Nice ; and what saith that? it defined that the 
Son of God is consubstantial to his father and true God. 
And what is that to Popery ? It defined the pope's sov- 
ereignty : but how prove you that? In the thirty-ninth 
Arab, canon. O what consciences have those men that 
dare thus abuse and cheat the ignorant ! As if the can- 
ons of the first general council had never been known 
to the world, till Alphonsus Pisanus a Jesuit published 
them out of Pope Julius, and some Arabic bdok. Men ' 
that can make both councils and canons at their pleas- 
ure above a thousand years after the supposed lime of 
their existence, never want authority. Thn is a cheaper 
way of canon — making in a corner, than to trouble all 
the bishops in the world with a great deal of c6st and 
travel to make them. But if this be the foundatiOD, the 
building is answerable. Zosimus bad not been acquaint- 



lITOOLIlfO. 157 

ted with those new articles of an old council, when he 
put his trick upon the sixth council of Carthage, where 
m the advancement of his power, though not to an uni- 
versal monarchy, yet to a preparative degree, he laid 
his claim from the council of Nice, as saying, '* if an ejec- 
ted bishop appeal to Rome, the bishop of Rome shall ap* 
point some of the next province to judge ; or if yet he desire 
his cause to be heard, the bishop of Rome shall appoint 
a presbyter his legate, SlcJ*^ In that council were 217 
iMshops, Aurelius being President, and Augustin being 
one. They told the pope that they would not yield to 
him till the true copies of the council of Nice were 
searched : for those that they had seen had not those 
words, which Zosimus alleged. Hereupon they sent to 
the churches of the East; to Constantinople, Alexandria, 
Antioch, &c. for the ancient canons. Tjience they re- 
ceived several copies which all agreed ; but none of 
them had either Zosimus' forgery, nor the forged 
clause which Bellarmin has, much less the eighty can- 
ons of Pisan the Jesuit, but only twenty canons, which 
have not a word for the pope's sovereignty. 

Zosimus knew not then of Pisan's canons, or else 
he would have alleged them ; nor yet of Bellarmin's 
new part of a canon for the primacy of the bishop of 
Rome. Zosimus himself had not the faith, the wit or 
the memory, to plead either Scripture, apostolical ineti- 
tutiotf, or tradition, for his privilege : but only a false 
canon of the council of Nice; as looking no higher 
it seems for his authority The Roman bishops early 
began both to aspire, and make use of forgeries to ac- 
complish it. There was no such apostolic or church 
tradition for the Roman power, as masters of tradition 
now plead for ; which, all the catholic church must 
know. The whole council, wsth all the churches of 
Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, doc, that is all 
save Rome were ignorant of that which Zosimus would 
have had them believe. Little did the church then be* 
lieve the pope's infallibility. Upon the reception of 
the several copies of the Nicene canons, they modestly 
convicted Zosimus of fisilsehood : and the council re- 
solved aga^t his usurpation. In the African councils, 
the epistle of Cyril of Alexandria, and Atticos of Con- 

14 



198 iKStlT 

stantinople : and the epistles of the eouncil to Boni&cf 
and Celestine, before they bad received their answeit , 
from other churches about the Nicene canons, they de- 
clare that would not suffer that arrogancy. 

That council looked no higher for the power of the 
pope and other metropolitans, -than to the council of 
Nice, and thought it a good argument, that the pope 
had no such power, because no council had so subjec- 
ted the African church : therefore they never dreamed 
that Christ or the apostles bad given it to him« They 
evince the nullity of his pretended power out of the 
Nicene council. They took him not to be above a coun- 
cil, having power to dispense with. its canqns. By 
the Nicene council, not some, but all business must be 
ended where they begin ; and therefore there is no ap- 
peal to the pope. He that saith otherwise unjustly 
chargeth the Holy Ghost to be wanting to the church. 
They took it for a sufficient reason against appeals to 
Kome, because all might appeal to a provincial or gen- 
eral council. They thought it a thing not to be imag- 
ined, that God should give his spirit to any one man, 
even to the pope to try and judge, and deny it to a coun- 
cil, general or provincial : so that they little dreamed of 
the Roman infallibility or power of judging all the 
world. They thought the pope to be incapable of this 
Universal judgment, were it but by distance, and the 
natural impediments of age, sex, and many the like, that 
must needs hinder the necessary witnesses from such 
a voyage or journey: so that they give an arsfument 
from natural necessity against the pope's pretended sov- 
ereignty and judgment. They plainly make such judg- 
ments to be invalid for want of necessary witness and 
means of prosecution. Whereas the pope might object 
that h? could prevent all this by his legates, they fatly 
rejected that too, and say they find no such thing con- 
stituted by any synod: so that they both rejected Mhe 
pope's trying and judging by legates in other metro- 
politans' jurisdiction ; and they took it for a sufficient 
ground to do 80« that there'^was no council had so con? 
stitated; much-less a Scripture constitution, or apostoli- 
cal tradition. If the pope may neither judge them by. 
kimself nor his legates, he may sit still. Tney coDvict 



JVOGLIKO. i99 

the Roman bishop of sending theiXKa false canon of the 
Nicene council. They show us what way the pope 
dien took to get and keep his power: by sending to 
the secular commanders of the provinces, in whom they 
,kad special interest by their residence at Rome, to ex* 
ecute their wills by force. The council plainly accuse 
them of introducing secular arrogance into Christ's 
ehurch, that better loveth simplicity and humility and 
light. They plainly require the bishop of Rome to do 
so no more. They tell him that Faustinus remaining 
any longer in Africa will not stand with that honesty 
and moderation of the bishop of Rome which is neces- 
sary to brotherly charity. 

I give you the plain passages of the council, and 
screw no forced consequences from them. Now let 
Binius and his brethren make children bflieve that it 
was not appeals to Rome, but a troublesome manner of 
trial that the council was against : and tell men that take 
bim for infallible, of a Nicene canon for the pope's su- 
premacy and- monarchy: and persuade idiots and dotards 
that the catholic church in the fourth and fifth ag'es 
was for the universal government of the pope. 

The first Constantinople council, saith Tuberville, 
decreed the bishop of Constantinople to be chief next 
the bishop of Rome. 

Then that primacy was but the institution of councils. 
It was grounded on a secular reason ; for so saith the 
canon, because it is new Rome. The pope's primacy 
was but honorary, and gave him no universal govern- 
ment; for the primacy here granted to Constantinople, 
gave them no government over Alexandria, Antioch, 
k;C. And the second canon expressly limits all bish- 
ops without exception to their own diocess. The third 
canon affirmed, that according to the Nicene council, 
jin every pr^vinct the provincial council ought to ad- 
minister and govern all things. See how clearly the 
succession of the Roman monarchy is disproved to that 
time. 

The next proof is from the third act of the first coun- 
cil of Ephesus, that Peter yet lives and exercises judg- 
ment in his successors. The words, that Peter was 
the head of the apostles, though nothing to their pui- 



160 JKIVIT 

pose, are neither spoken nor approred by the eonneii, 
but only by CelestiDe's legate. The council, though 
specially moved by his concurrence to extol Celestiae 
to the highest, yet never spake a word of his governing 
power or sovereignty, bat only his consent : and whi 
they mention the Roman church, it is only their con- 
sent which they predicate. They extol Cyril eqnallj 
with Celestine. binius, Tom, 2. Cap. 15. 

The next witness brought is the council of Chalce- 
don, as calling Leo, universal archbishop and patriarch 
of old Rome, and sentence is pronounced against Dio- 
scorus in the names of Leo and St Peter. This is ons 
oi your common frauds. ' It was not the council that 
called him universal archbishop, but two deacons in the 
superscription of their libels, Theodorus ^nd Ischirion^ 
Were they the catholic church ? 

By universal archbishop is plain that they meant no 
more than the chief in dignity and order of all arch- 
bishops, and not the governor of all. That universality 
was only in the empire, and not over the world. 

That very council in its canons not only gives the 
bishop of Constantinople equal privileges with the 
bishop of Rome, but expressly saith that Rome received 
this primacy of order from a council, because it was 
the seat of the emperor. When Bellarmin comes to 
that canon, ho plainly charges that fainous fourth 
general council with falsehood, and says that the 
pope approved not this canon. But approved or not 
approved, if th^t was the catholic church representative, 
their testimony is valid to prove that there was then no 
reception of the Roman monarchy as of God, but con** 
trariiy a mere primacy of dignity and honor given it 
newly by men. 

In the sixth and in the seventh age though then the 
sovereignty was claimed by Boniface, he citeth no 
council for it neither. 

In the eighth age he cites the second council of Nice, 
as approving an epistle of Pope Adrian, wherein he 
saith that the Roman church is tne head of all churches. 
Whether Adrian himself by the head meant the chief 
in dignity, or the governor of all, is a great doubt. 
Tharasius seems to imply the contraryt as if his see 



Mi 

)ttd tbe privifege «iilj of heiog the pnnite of Bome, 
aad nol the raler of ^ world. That council did am 
OjpeBi y own the I^i^mI aoverei^fntjr. 

I am coBtent that any impaitia] aober person may 
jodge, wheUier hefe he a satiafiutory proof cii a ratholk 
succeaaioB of the Papal aorereignty, m'hen tbrongh ao 
manjr agea, they hring not a word for any Bucceaaion 
at ail ; mnch leas that it was owned by the catholic 
charch : and least of all, that all the rest of Popery was 
so owned. 

HaTing showed yon that Papists cannot prove any 
succession, or cootiooatioa, or ti^ition of their relig'ion, 
let us consider their silly shift, in other points. 

I have already proved that ignorance or difiereoca 
about many pcnnts not essential to Christianity, may 
•onsist wim our being of one religion and catholic 
church, and therefore such differences are nothing to 
the point of succession of the catholic church or reli- 
gion : and Papists tolerate or plead for the toleration 
of greater dinerences among themselves, which yet 
they affirm to consist with the unity of faith. 

The Jesuits maiotain, that if a man do but believe in 
their pope and church as infallible, he may not only as 
some say, be ignorant of some article of the creed itself^ 
and yet be a true catholic, aod be saved, but also be- 
Heve a false article as from 3od and the church. Tha 
former is commonly taught not only by such as Snarez, 
that say the article of Christ's Descent iuto Hell is not 
to all of necessity to salvation, but by many others in 
the doctrine of implicit faith. The latter clause you 
may see among others in Albertinui the Jetuii, C&ral- 
lar. p. 250, where his objectors put this ease : '' Suppose 
twenty bishops preach to a countryman a false article, 
as if It were spoken by God and the church : that pro- 
posal of the twenty bishops is so sufficient, that the 
countryman prudently formeth an evident practical 
judgment, and morally certain, to believe with a specu* 
lative assent the article proposed by the twenty bishops, 
for the authority of God as the formal reason, Threa 
absurdities seem hence to follow. That the country* 
man should be obliged under mortal sin, to believe the 
twenty bishops, and so the precept of faith should bind 



192 szBVtt 

to believe a falsehood. The coantryman should be ht 
Qod's grace without faith. In grace, because he coiii- 
mits no mortal sin, yea he obeys the command of be- 
lieving: yet without faith, because he believes a fiilse- 
hood opposite to faith, and so loseth faith. God should 
concur to deceive^ To the first Albertinus an" 
swereth that its no absurdity that the command of iaith 
do oblige to believe a falsehood. To the second he 
saith, that the countryman doth not lose his grace or 
faith ; because the falsehood believed is not fermalfy 
opposite to the true faith, but materially.". A man there- 
fore may hold an article opposite to the faith materi- 
ally, and yet not only be a true Christian in grace and 
faith, but also in so doing obey by accident the com- 
mand of believing, so be it he believe in their church, 
If that be so, with what face can these men say that our 
church or religion is new, or not the same with the 
Greeks, &,c , when we have the same formal object of 
faith, and difier in no essential material point? See here 
their lubricity and partiality. 

The second Council of Nice that decreed for image 
worship, expressly decrees, that Latria, divine worship 
is to be given only to God : Thomas Aquinas Sum, 3. q, 
25. art. 3 &> 4, maintaineth that Latria, " divine wor- 
ship is to be given to the image of Christ, and to the 
Cross that he died on; and to the sign of that Cross" 
Here is an article of their feith expressly contradicted: 
yet Aquinas is a member of their church. If any say 
he is no member, it is proved past doubt, for the pope 
hath canonized him for a saint ; so that now it is a part 
of their religion to take him for a true believer. Alber- 
tinus, as he thinks, proved, that though in many other 
matters of fact the pope be fallible, yet in the canonizing 
of saints he is infallible, because of some promise of 
God's special assistance. Abundance of such instances 
might be brought to prove, that the Papists oirn men as 
true believers, who deny or contradict articles of their 
faith. But what need we more, than that France and 
thousands elsewhere are yet members of their church, 
that deny the Lateran and Florentin definition for the 
pope's supremacy above a general council f and when 
most Papists hold that angels are incorporeal, contrary 



sv^OLtna. 103 

to the definition of the said second Council of Niee« 

Tiierefore by their own law, we may say, that those 
were of our religfion that differed from us in nothing 
that is essential to the faith. 

Plspists tell us that Jerom Austin, Ambrose, &c., 
keld the rnvocation of aainis. If any desire the de* 
parted saints to pray for them, as they do the living, we 
We reason enough to take it for their error. 

The primitive church was unacquainted with the 
Romish prayer to saints. Till the end of the fourth 
century, they are not able to prove that ever three men 
were for prayer to the dead at all, except such a condi- 
tional speech in an oration as Gregory Nazianz halh; 
if holy souls have any care or feeling of such things as 
these, receive this oration^ Orat. 11. Usher in his an- 
swer to the Jesuit, page 418, saith, that fot nim parts 
•/ the first four hundred years, the Jesuit is not able to 
produce one true testimony out of any father whereby 
it may appear that any account at all vas made of it. 
He citeth the full express words of the fathers of those 
first ages against praying to saints, as Origen in Jos. 
Horn* 16 In Rom. lib. 2. cap. 2 : and Contr. Celsum. 
lib. 8, lib. 5. Tertullian ApoL cap, 30. Tertullian and 
Cyprian on Prayer. Athanasius Oral. 4. Cont. Arium. 
Eccles. Smyrn. apud Euseh. Hist. lib. 4. 

When prayer to the dead came in, it exceedingly 
differed Irora the Romish prayers to the dead. Those 
adorations and devotions offered by the Papists to the 
Virgin Mary, are enough to make a Christian tremble, 
and are horrid blasphemy or idolatry. 

The reason why in the Old Testament men were not 
wont to pray to saints, Bellarmiu saith, was because then 
they did not enter into Heaven nor see God. Bellar. de 
sanct. Beat. li. 2. cap. 19. Saurez Tom. 2. disp. 42. 
Sect. I. But as the chief doctors of the church for 
divers ages were of opinion that the saints are not ad* 
mitted into Heaven to the clear sight of God before the 
day of judgment, as most of the Eastern churches do to 
this day, therefore they could not be for the Popish 
prayer to saints. 

Men may be of the same &ith and church with us, 
who differ and err in as great a matter as this. The 



164 jfttviT 

council of Florence defined it, that *' departed s»uh 
mre admitted into heaven to ike clear eight of God, Yet 
Stapleton and Francis. Pegna* a Castro^ Medina and So* 
tuSf affirm that Irenaus, Justin Martyr, TertuUiem, CU' 
mens Romahus, Origen, Ambrose^ Chrysostome, Auetiat 
Laetantius, Victorinns, Prudentius, Theodoret, Aretof, 
Oecumenius, Theophplact, 'Euthymiust and even .0«f- 
nard, have delivered the contrary sentence. Staplet. 
Defens. Eccles. author • eont. Whitak. lib. 1. cap. 2. 
Pegna. Part 2. Director. Inquisitor, com. 21. 

AH those are against the Popish invocation of saiatff, 
so they were against that which now is determined to 
he offaith, whence I gather that the Romish faith in- 
creaseth, and is not the same as heretofore. That they 
had not this article hy tradition from any of those fathers, 
or from the apostles hy them, nnless from the Scrip* 
tares. That men that err in such points -as are now 
defined by councils to be of faith, are yet accounted by 
Papists to be of their church and faitn : and therefore 
they may be of ours, notwithstanding such errors at 
this in hand. Whence the Papists are a perjured gen- 
eration, that swear not to expound Scripture but accor- 
ding to the unanimous consent of the fathers. 

The council of Laodicea condemned them as idola- 
ters who prayed to angels, Can. 35. The full testimo- 
nies of Greg. Nyssen, Athanasius^ JEpiphanius, Sfc. 
are against praying to saints and angels, and the de- 
tection of Bellarmin's fraud, that pretendeth the fathers 
to speak of the Gentile idolatry, when they mention the 
Virgin Mary and the saints, and say expressly they 
were not to be adored; may be found in Usher's An* 
swer; 470—472. 

But for all that Tuberville hath fathers for his ado- 
ration of angels and saints. And who are they ? Tht 
first is Dionysius: to which I answer, there is not 
such a word in the place cited in Dionysius. We ars 
tor praying the saints to pray for us too, that is, those 
oo earth : and the words cited by him, mention not the 
saints in heaven. Dionysius is a spurious apocryphal 
book : not once known and mentioned in the world till 
six hundred years after Christ, as Bellarmin himself 
saith ; Lib. de Scriptor, Eccles. de Dionysi. et lib. 2. de 
Monach. cap. 5. 



juoaLiifo. 165 

The second it Clem, AposloL ConsUt. 5. The word^ 
•peak only of honoring the martyrs, which is our an* 
^esdoned dnty ; but not of praying to them. It is an 
apocryphal forgery, and neither the aposlle's nor Cle- 
Bient'a work which he citeth. Let him believe Bellar- 
mint de scriplor, Eecles. p. 38, 39, who saith that in the 
Latin church, those constitutions are of almost no ac- 
•ount ; and the Greeks themselves, canon 2. Trul. reject 
them as depraved by heretics, and the receiving of them 
misleadeth the Ethiopians. 

The third testimony is from Justin^s second ApoL 
It is not praying to angels that Justin intends, but gir* 
ing them due honor. His intent is to stop the mouths 
of heathens that called the Christians impious for re- 
nouncing their gods : to them he replieth, that we yet 
honor the true God, and his angels, &>c. 

His testimony for the third age is only Origen 
in his Lamentations. Origen there mentioneth the 
saints, but not the dead saints. It is the saints in the 
ehurch on earth whose prayers he desireth. You cite 
a forgery that is none of Origen's works. Not only 
Erasmus saith that this lamentation was neither writ- 
ten by Origen, nor translated by Jerom, but is the fic- 
tion of some unlearned man, that by this trick devised 
to defame Origen. Baronius Annal. Tit. 2. ad an. 253. 
witnesseth that pope Gelasius numbers it with the apo- 
tryphals. 

The next exception to be considered is, praying for 
the dead : which they say the ancient church was for. 

We are for the commemoration of holy lives and 
sufierings of the saints. And the first sort of the an- 
eientfl' prayers for them began here, as the occasion. 
We are for thankful acknowledgment of God's mercies 
to the departed saints, and to the church by them. 
A.nd the first prayers for them were such as those. 
Usher hath proved that they were saints, supposed to 
be in heaven or paradise, and not in purgatory, that 
were then prayed for : and therefore that it was not the 
Popish praying for tormented souls that was then prac- 
tised: and therefore their prayers then besides commem- 
orations and thanksgivings were the petitioning of all 
those following mercies for them wluch are not to be 



\66 1E8VIT 

received till the resarrectio'o. BellarmiD himself proT- 
ing that though we were certain that the Messed soak 
shall have a raised glorified hody, and he justified ia 
the last judgment, yet may it he prayed, for, hecanseit 
is yet future. Now we are &r from heing of another 
church or religion than those that hold such an opinioa 
as this. Usher when he had cited many testimoniei 
saith ; ** in those and other prayers of the like kind, we 
may descry evident footsteps of the primary intention of 
the church in her supplications for the dead: which was 
that the whole roan, not the soul separated only, might 
receive puhlic remission of sins, and a solemn acquittal 
in the judgment of that great day ; and so ohtain hoth 
a full escape from all the consequences of sin, the last 
enemy heing now destroyed, and death swallowed up 
in victory, and a perfect consummation of bliss and hap- 
piness : all which are comprised in that short prayer of 
Paul for Onesiphorus, though made for him while hs 
was alive, the Lord grant unto him that he'may find 
mercy of the Lord in that day. Yea, divers prayen 
for the dead of that kind are still retained in the Roman 
ofiices ; of which Medina thus writes : " Although I have 
read many prayers for the faithful deceased, which 
are contained in the Roman Missal, yet have I read in 
none of them that the church doth petition, that they 
may more quickly be freed from pains: but I have 
read that in some of them, petition is made, that they 
may be freed from everlasting pains. Again there be 
other prayers wherein petition is made, that God would 
raise the souls of the dead in their bodies unto bliss at 
the day of judgment." 

Here you may see the diflferences between the prayers 
for the dead which are used by the Papists ana by the 
Eastern churches to this day. 

Another point that they much chHllenge us about is; 
the veneration or adoration of images, relics, and the 
cross, to which I may join peregrinations to places 
esteemed by them to be ot^eminent holiness. Concerning 
peregrinations, Gregory Nyssen wrote purposely against 
going on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He adviseth even 
Uie retired monastics, in those countries that were 
near to Judsa, to forbear such pilgrimaged a^dftngeroos 



juooLiNO. ]b67 

aad nniieceasary) and not^t all commanded in the 
Scripture. The Papists did as long as they could per- 
suade the world that this epistle was not by Gregory : 
mud when they were made ashamed of that, they would 
•Impound it as prohibiting pilgrimages to none but the 
monastics : and sure if it should be forbidden them, 
then much more should others be forbidden, that have 
not the leisure, and pretend not to their devotions. 

But it is one thing to use images, and another to use 
them Popishly, which is to make them mediate objects 
of divine worship, yea to worship the very image itself, 
and the cross and sign of the cross, with the same wor- 
ship as we do him that is signified by them : so that we 
confidently affirm, that the primitive church did make 
no use of images at all in the worship of God ; nor en^ 
du^e them in the place of worship. When they were 
first brought in, the Popish use of them was renounced 
and detested. Clemens Alexand^inus ProtrepL ad 
Oent SMth that, we are plainly forbidden to use that 
d^eitful art of painting or image making : — we have 
no sensible image made of any sensible matter, but such 
an image as is to be conceived with the understanding. 
Origen against Celsus lib. 7. is large and plain against 
the use of images, as the Protestants are. The Either . 
concil. C 36. saith it seemeth good to us, that pictures 
ought not to be in the church, lest that which is wor- 
shipped or adored should be painted on walls. Some 
Papists would fain find a sense for this canon contrary 
to the words: but Melch. Canus plainly saith, that the 
council did not only imprudently but impiously make 
this law to take away images. Lcc. Theol. lib. 5. cap* 4. 
cone. 4. 

They have no better shift to save their credit, than to 
set their own school-men and general council together 
by the ears. The second council of Nice, that did 
most for images, did openly renounce the adoring them 
with divine honor, and Tharasius solemnly professed, 
they did refer and repose faith and divine worship in 
the true Grod alone. Aquinas Sum. 3. 9. 25., maintaineth 
that the images of Christ, and the cross, and the sign of 
the croM, are to be worshipped with divine worship. 
What aaiih Tuherville to this ? This is a mere school 



168 $Mwn 

oplnioo and not of fiiidi with us: arge not therefore, 
whai some particular diTinea sa j, but hearken to tke 
doctrine of God's church. 

Is not this a gross kind of joggling, that would never 
down if dcTout ignorance and implicit faith had not pre- 
pared the people ? You see here that to camtradiei ikt 
determination of a general council, is not of faith with 
them. But is it not against your faith f Do yoa give 
leave to mere school opinions to contradict general 
councils f See here what's become of the Popish fiitthf 
If the determinations of councils be not articles of ftith 
with you, then you hare no &ith, but give up yoor 
cause : and if they be, then Aquinas and his foUowen 
are heretics. Then what's become of the Pope's in£d- 
libility in canonizing saints, that hare sainted Thoma$ 
Aquinas, who is proved a heretic by your law : so that 
your cause is gone which way ever you turn. What it 
IS to pray to saints, when some of them are made here- 
tics by your own laws? Then also see, at what unity 
the church of Rome is among themselves, when it is the 
very common doctrine of their learned schoolmen, 
which contradicteth a general council. What a holy 
church you have, when your most learned divines are 
thus made heretics. Usher's allegations of Arundel'i 
provincial council at Oxford, 1408. Naclantus in Rom. 
cap. 1. saith : " We must not only confess, that the faith- 
ful in the church do worship before the image, as some 
cautiously speak, but that they adore the image, with- 
out any scruple : yea and that they worship it with the 
same worship as the prototype ; so that if it be worship- 
ed with divine worship, the image must have divine 
worship." Cabrera, part 3. Thorn, qu. 25. art. 3. 
aisp. 2. num. 15, saith: "it is of faith that images are I 
to be worshipped, in churches and without : and we 
must give them sig^s of servitude and submission, 
by embracing, lights, ofiering incense, uncorenng the 
head, &c. Images are truly and properly to be adored, 
with an intention to adore themselves, and not only the 
samplars ' represented in them. This conclusion it 
against Dniandus and his followers, whose opinion by 
the moderns is judged dangerous, rash^ and savoring of 
heresy. Medina reporteth that Victorta reputed it 




J1T«GUII0. 160 

lieretical : but out conclusion is the common one of 
divines. If images be improperly only adored, then 
they are not to be adored simply and absolutely; which is 
manifest heresy. And if images are to be worshipped 
only by way of remembrance, because they make us 
remember the samplars, which we thus adore as if they 
were present, it would follow that all creatures are to 
be adored with the same adoration as God — which 
is absurd. The opinion of Thomas, that the image 
must be worshipped with the same act of adoration, as 
the sampler which it representeth, is most true, most 
pious, and very consonant to the decrees of faith. Ca- 
brera adds, that this is the doctrine of Thomas and all 
his disciples, and almost all the old schoolmen, and 
particularly of Cajetan, Capreolus, Paludanus, Fer- 
rariensis, Antoninus, Soto, Alexander, Alesius, Albertus, 
Magnus, Bonaventura, Richardus de media villa, Dio- 
nysius Carthusianus, Major, Marsilius, Thomas, Wal- 
densis, Turrecremata, Clichtovaeus, Tiirrian, Vasquez; 
dbc. Azorius saith, it is the constant opinion of divines< 
histituL Moral, torn, 1. lib. 9. cap. 6. In the Romaki 
pontifical published by the authority of Clement, it is 
expressed, that the legate's cross shall have the right 
hand, because divine worship is due to it. Here the 
pope himself is a heretic; and the pontifical contains 
heresy : and all the schoolmen are heretics, by contra- 
dictingthe determination of the second general council at 
Nice, and the doctrine which they say, is the doctrine 
of God'^ church. Such is the faith and unity of the 
Papists. 

But they also maintain "that though all those worship 
the very cross and images themselves, and that wjth 
divine worship, yet there be some that do but worship 
God by the image. Do you think that rational page^ns 
did not know as well as you that their images were not 
gods themselves, and so worshipped them not as gods, 
but as the representors and instruments of some deity 1 
Isactantius Jnstit lib. 2. cap. 2. brings them in saying 
thus ; we fear not them, but those whom they represent, 
and to whose names they are consecrated. Arnobius 
thus ; It is the gods that we worship by images. Au- 
gustip thus reporteth the pagans saying, I do not wor- 



170 MEMvrr 

•hip that stone, nor that unag®* which is without seme* 
P$aL 113. cone. 2. 1 worship neither the image aor 
a spirit in it ; but by the bodUy likeness I heboid the 
sign of that which I ought to worship. That many of 
them renounced the worshipping of deyils, appeareth by 
Augu8lin*s report of their words, in I^sal. 96. ^ We 
worship not evil spirits : it is those that you call angeh, 
that we worship, who are the powers of the great God, 
and the ministers of the great God." To whom Austia 
answers ; would yon would worship them, that is himor 
them aright, then you would easily learn of them not to 
worship them. Few could be so silly as to think there 
were as many Jupiters or ApoUos as there were images 
of them in the world. So that you see here that some 
of the pagans as to image- worship disclaimed that which 
the Papists ascribe to them, divine worship. 

Oh but, saith Tuberville, tell us not of particular doc- 
tors, but of the doctrine of God*s church. What ! Doi 
of Thomas? not of the army of school divines before 
mentioned? not of the common judgment of divines t 
for so they call it ; not of that which is of faith, or con- 
sonant to it, and whose contrary is heresy, or savors of 
heresy 1 not of Pope Clement VIII. and the Roman 
pontifical 1 Wonderful ! are all those no body in yoar 
church ? O admirable harmony that is in your united 
church ! 

But you agree to leave out the second conunandment 
lest the very words should deter the people from image 
worship ; and to make an irrational division of tlie tenth 
to blind their eyes. Yet you cry up the testimony of 
the fathers, when you are fain to hide one of the ten 
commandments, so that thousands of your poor seduced 
followers, know not that there is such a thing.- No won- 
der if you cast away Gregory Nyssen's epistle against 
pilgrimages ; and Epiphanius in the end of his epistle to 
Joban. Hlerosol. against images, and if Vasquez 3. Thorn, 
disp. 105. c. 3. contrary to the plain wonfo feigns that 
it was the image of a profane or common man that 
Epjphanins pulled down ; and Al. Cope Dial 5. c 21. 
says, that the epistle is counterfeit and not by Epiphanius; 
and if Bellarmin de imag. c. 9. and Baronius an. 993 
•ay that this part of the epistle is forged : and if Alphom. 



JViG^OLIirO. 171 

Zastro. cont Haeres. de imag. reproach Epiphanius for 
IS an Iconoclast. So well are you agreed in the con- 
arion of the fathers* testimonies, that any way will 
*ve your turn, though each man have his several way. 
isquez plainly confesseth, ** indeed the Scripture doth 
iiid not only the worship of an image for God, but 
4> the worshipping the true God in an image : but this 
mmandment is now repealed, and therefore under the 
>spel we may do otherwise." Vctsq. lib. 2. de AdoraU 
Isp. 4. e. 3. Sect 74. 75. et c. 4; Sect 84. 
Many Christian churches do reject images from their 
irches as well as Protestants. More reject statutes 
it reject not pictures. Many that keep them, worship 
^m not, nor God in them, or by them, as by a mediate 
ject. General councils have been against images, 
it want nothing bnt the pleasure of the pope, to make 
;ni of as good authority as the council that was for 
^m. That second council that was for them, of Nice, 
idemneth the schoolmen and Pope Clement 
nself as heretics, for worshipping them, or the 
•ss with divine worship. Of the judgment of the an- 
nt catholic church against the Popish use of images, 
ruse what Cassander, an honest Papist hath written 
that end, Consultat de imag, et simulac^ ^'In referr 
;e to the images of saints, it is certain that at the be* 
ning of the preaching of the Gospel, neither among 
ristians nor in the churches, images were not used, so 
>ment and Arnpbius testify. At length, pictures were 
reduced into the churches, under the pretext of ex- 
ining the sacred historical facts," He also alleges 
iquity against the Popish use of images. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Popish faUt interfretaUons. 

4.N0THER of the Papists' deceits, and one of the prin* 
lal juggleries with which they support their cause is this; 
ilse interpretations and applications of all the say- 
rs of the fathers^ which they force to countenance 
iir usurped supremacy. 



172 VltUIT 

1. Any claiin that ambitious prelates have made to pow- 
er, they use as an argument for their universid sover- 
eignty. There was too much pride and ambition in pre- 
lates, even in some that otherwise might be good. men. 
Zosimus would have extorted a confessioii of his usurp- 
ed power, and a submission to it from Aurelius, Augus- 
tin, and the rest of the African council: but he could 
not do it. Leo I. and Gregory I. and others, were veiy 
busy for the extending Oii their power: the Roman pre- 
lates long endeavofed to put the halter on the Africans' 
heads, and about the French before they got them under. 
Shall those ambitious men be witnesses.^ and because 
they would have had more power, doth it follow that it 
was their due \ 

%. If they find that any distressed churches or bishops 
sent to Rome for help, it is gathered thence that they took 
the pope to be Christ's vicar general. As when Chrys- 
•tom sent to Innocent, and Basil and the rest in the East 
did send often for help into the West ; because Rome 
during the emperor's residence there, was the place 
wbere life or death was last pronounced on every man's 
cause by secular power : and therefore the Bishop of 
Rome had the greater opportunity to befriend other 
churches : — afterwards Rome had a great secular influ- 
ence on the empire : — because in the divisions of the 
Easterns about Arianism, they thought that the counte- 
nance of the orthodox in the West might have done some- 
what to turn the scales : — and because the Bishop of 
Rome being taken for the patriarch of the ferst place, 
bis voice might do much aguinst an adversary. 
<^ Eusebius, Meletius, Basil, and the rest of the ortho«» 
m flox, being both pestered with the Arians, and all to 
pieces also among themselves^ sent for help to the West. 
Basil. Ep. 69. But whom? and for what 1 not to the 
bishop of Rome only, nor by name, but equally to the 
bishops of Italy and France, without any mention of the 
Roman power. Not that the pope might decide all by 
his sovereign power, which certainly was so near a way 
to their relief, that no wise man can imagine them so 
mad as to forget it, if it had been a thing the^ l^Qown and 
approved of : but only they desire thlit some may be 
J^ tQ Mp them to be the stronger party iii a synod, or 




9 

%t least some one to comfort tbem, and put some coun- 
tttltiance on their cause. Epist 70, Basil writeth himself 
in the name of the rest : but to whom t to the bishops 
«f France and Italy ; and France before Italy ; without 
taking notice of a universal head of the church at Rome* 
What doth he importune them fort not that the pope 
woold decide the controversy: but that they would ac- 
«|aaint the emperor with their state, because the West 
had an orthodox emperor, and the East an Arlan, or 
send some to see how it stood witj^ them. So that it 
was but either help from the emperor, or countenance 
from the number of bishops because they were over-vot- 
ed, that they desired. Epis. 74, Basil again writes to 
the bishops of the West, no more to the Roman bishop 
than the resc ; and he giveth those reasons ; '^ for what we 
here speak is suspected, as if we spoke through private 
contention. — But for you, the farther you are remote 
from them by habitation, so much credit you have with 
the people, whereto is added that the grace of God 
helpeth you to relieve the oppressed : and if many of 
you unanimously decree the same things, it is manifest 
that the multitude wiH produce a certain reception of 
your opinion.*' Wonderful ! if there were a vicar general 
of Christ at Rome, that it never came into their mind to 
crave his decision or help, as such? 

O but say the Papists, that was because they had to 
do only with the Arians, that cared for no authority that 
was against them. But would the Arians have so much 
regarded the votes of the French and Italian bishops, or 
a few men sent from them, and yet not regard the head 
of the church t The Arians had heard of this headship, 
if any had. And would not the orthodox desire so much 
as a word from Rome for this advantage ? But it is false 
that against the Arians only they called for help. They 
expressly say ; that it was also because they were divid- 
ed among themselves, by personal quarrels. How im- 
portunately doth Gregory Nyssen afterward call for help 
from others, and tell Flavianus, in his epistle to him,^ of 
their misery as if all were lost t And the only sad in- 
stance was, that Helladius had proudly neglected him, 
and made him stand at his door, when he went to visit 
him, a great while before he was let in ; and then did not 

J5* 



I 



174 i£fltff 

bid him sit down ; and then did not speak to him first 
but two or three strange angry words : That was the 
great business. Basil. Episi. 77. chided the Western 
bishops, for not sending to them, nor regarding them 
and their communion : and to touch their pride, he adds, 
** We have one Lord, one faith, one hope. Whether you 
think yourselves the head of the universal church, the 
head cannot say to the feet, I have no need of you, or if 
you place yourselves in the order of other church mem* 
bers, you cannot say to us, we need you not.** Would 
you believe that the Papists cite this passage of Basil, 
for their headship, because here is the word head ! When 
it is plain, that Basil by the head means but the chiefest 
part^ and not the sovereign power. It is also most evi- 
dent, that be speaks to all the bishops of the West, and 
not to the Roman bishop ; and that he doth it as a smart 
reproof of their arrogancy, and not in an^ approbation 
at all of their usurped power. 

3. When the Papists find any heresy condemned by the 
Bishop of Rome, they cite this as a testimony of their 
sovereignty. As if other patriarchs and bishops con- 
demned them not as well as they ; or as if we knew not 
that the church desired the most general vote against 
heretics, and therefore would be loth to leave so great a 
bishop out. 

4. When they find the pope excommunicating foreign 
bishops, they cry up this as a testimony of the hea(]ship : 
as if to refuse communion with another church or bishop 
is an act of jurisdiction. over them. Other bishops have 
also excommunicated the pope: Nicephorus lib. 17. 
cap. 26., saith Yigilius, proceeded to that insolence, that 
he excommunicated Mennas for four months. Mennas 
did the same by him ; but Justinian being moved to an- 
ger with such things, sent some to lay hold on him. 
Vigilius being afraid of himself, fled to the altar of Ser- 
glus the Martyr, and laid hold on the sacred pipes, and^ 
would not be drawn away till he had pulled them down. 
But by the mediation of the Empress Theodora, the 
pope was pardoned, and Mennas and he absolved one 
another. A fair proof of the vicarship ! Pope Honorius 
was condemned for an heretic by two or three general 
councUs. 



iVOQUna. 175 

5« When they meet with any hig words of their own 
>pes, they take it for a proof of the vicarship: as if 
g words did prove authority. Or as if we knew not 
>w lowly they spoke to those that were above them. 
rregory was high enough towards those that he thought 
9 could master : but what low submissive language doth 
B use to secular governors above him ? What flattering 
inguage aid his successors use to the most base mur- 
erers and usurpers of the empire t 

6- Another Roman deceit is this : When they find any 
lention of the exercise of the thriving Roman power, 
ver their own diocess or patriarchal circuit, they would 
lence prove that universal power over all. By that rule 
he patriarch of Alexandria or Constantinople may prove 
LS much. 

7. When they meet with passages that speak ^f the 
elevation of their pope to be the first patriarch in the 
EloQian empire, or any power that by the emperors 
was given him, they cunningly confound the empire 
with the world, and especially if they find it called by 
the name of the world, and they would persuade you 
that all other Christians and churches on cartii, did 
ascribe as much to the Bishop of Rome, as the Roman 
empire did. It is true that he was in the empire, ac- 
knowledged to be first in order or dignity, because of 
Rome the seat of his episcopacy, especially when gene- 
ral councils began to trouble themselves and the world 
about such matters of precedency. They usually called 
the empire all the world : and from such passages would 
the Papists prove the primacy at least of the pope over 
all the world. But put these Jugglers to it, to prove if 
they can, that beyond the river Euphrates, and beyond 
the bounds of the Roman empire, the pope did either 
exercise dominion, or was once so much as regarded by 
them, any more than any other bishop, except there were 
any adjacent island or country that had their dependence 
upon the empire. They will not deny that the church 
extended much beyond the empire. Let them prove if 
they can, that ever any of those churches had any re- 
gard to the Roman bbhop any more than to another 
roan. Let them tell you where any empire out of the 
line of the imperial power, was any whit subject to the 
pope. 



ltd JkittT 

8. But their chief fraud is about names and words* 
When they meet with any high complimental title given 
to the Bishop of Rome, they presently conclude that it 
signifieth his sovereignty. 

Sometimes the Roman bishops are called Suromi Pen* 
tifices, the chief popes : and hence some gather their 
supremacy. But Baronius their chief flatterer tells in 
Martyrolog. Roman. April. 9, that it was the ancient 
custom of the church to call bishops not only pontificei 
popes, but chief popes. And then citing a passage of 
Jerom. EpsU 99, he adds,' ^* Those that understand not 
this ancient custom of speech, refer those words to tb* 
popedom of the church of Rome.'* 

The names Papa, Pope, Dominus, Pater sanctissinuu, 
beatissimus, dei amantissimus, &c., were commonly 
given to other prelates. 

What if Rome were called the mother of all churches 1 
Basil saith, that the church of Caesarea is the mother of 
all churches in a manner. Jerusalem has oft that title. 

Sometimes they find Rome called Caput Ecclesiarum, 
and then they think they have won the cause. But it is 
no more than that priority of dignity which not Christ, 
but the emperors and councils gave them, that is intend- 
ed in the word. It is called the head, that is the chief 
seat ia dignity, without any meaning that the pope istb« 
universal monarch of the world. 

The pope is called the archbishop of the catholic 
church, or the universal bishop / Three flattering monks 
at the council of Chalcedon, do so superset ibe their 
libels: but they plainly mean do more than the bishop 
that in order of dignity is above the rest, and many par- 
ticular churches are oft called catholic churches. There 
is a difference between a catholic church and the catho- 
lic church. The prelate of Constantinople had that title, 
even by a council at Constant, an. 518, before the 
Bishop of Rome had it publicly, or owned it. It was set- 
tled on the patriarch of Constantinople to be called the 
oecumenical or universal patriarch. Who knoweth not 
that emperors gave such titles at their pleasure 1 Jus- 
tinian at one time would give the primacy to Rome, and 
at another time to Constantinople, saying, ** the church 
of Constantinople is the head of all other churches." 



JVGOLINO. 177 

An, D&^. 530. C de iCpiscopis, L 1. lege 24. Justi- 
nian who sometimes calls Rome tlie hoad, when the sixth 
general council hacd condemned Vigilius Pope of Rome, 
permitted Theodora his empress to cause him to be fetched 
to Constantinople, and dragged about the street in a 
baiter, and then banished, till they had forced him to sub- 
scribe and submit to tlte council : even as they had de- 
posed Pope Silverius his predecessor. Baronius himself 
mentioned a Vatican monument which calls Agapctus 
chief bishop so doth it call Mennas, the apostolic univer- 
sal bishop : which Baronius saith, doth mean no more 
than that he was universal over his own provinces : and 
if that be so, any bishop may be called universal. One 
council of Carthage decreed that tlie bishop sliould bo 
called, ** not the chief priest, or the chief of priests, but 
the bishop of the first seat." And how long will they 
shut their eyes against the testimony of two of their own 
popes, Pelagius and Gregory who condemned the name 
of universal bishop 1 

They find the church of Rome called apostolic, and 
so were others as wellfis that. 

The pope is called the pillar of the church ; and what 
of that 1 so are many others as well as he ; as all the 
apostles were as well as Peter? the church is built on 
the foundation of the apostles and prophets. The pas- 
tors of the church were ordinarily called the pillars and 
props of it. 

When the Papists read their popes called the succes- 
sors of Peter, they take this as a proof of their sover- 
eignty. Whereas Peter himself had no such sovereignty. 
They succeeded him not in his apostleship. They are 
called Paul's successors as well as Peter's. Others are 
called Peter's successors too as well as they, by the 
fathers. And other bishops ordinarily are called the 
apostles' successors, and other churches called apostolic 
churches. 

Hesych. Hierosoh apud Photium Cod, 269. says of 
Andrew the apostle ; "the first begotten of the apostolic 
choir, the first fixed pillar of the^ church ; the Peter of 
peter, or the Rock of Peter, the foundation of the foun- 
dation ; tlie principal of the principal, who called before 
he was called, and brought others to Christ before he 
was brou|^t to hiip by any others.** 



178 JS8UIT 

Hesychius also saith of James apud Pkoiium Cod, I 
275. **with what praises may I set forth the servant and \i 
brother of Christ, the chief emperor or commander or 
captain of the new Jerusalem ; the prince or chief of 
priests, the president or principal of the apostles, the 
crown or leader among the heads, the principal lamp 
among the lights; the principal planet among the stars f 
Peter speaketh to the people; but James giveth tiis 
law, or sets down the law." Where is more than thii 
•aid of Peter himself t much less of the pope? 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Popish For. ^ tries; and . Ccrruplions of authon. 

Another of the principal deceits of the Papists is 
this : they forge and corrupt councils and fathers, and 
then cite those forgeries^ Be careful therefore how yoa 
receive their allegations, till you have searched and know 
the books to be genuine, and the particular words to bo 
there, and uncorrupted. 

1. They obtained the opportunity of possessing so 
many libraries, that they might the easiiier play this 
abominable game. But God in mercy hath kept so 
many monuments of antiquity out of their hands, partly 
in the Eastern, and partly in the reformed churches, as 
suffice to discover abundance of their wicked forgeries 
and falsifications. 

2. Of their forging canons and feigning councils which 
never were as ConciL Sinuessan, ConciL Rom, sub SU- 
vester; Usher^s Answer to the Jes, p, 12, 13, Of their 
forging Constantine*s Donation and Isidore Mercater^'s 
forging a fardel of decretals ; and of their falsifying and 
corrupting in the doctrine of the sacrament, read the 
works of Ambrose, Chrysostom, Fulbert, Raban, Bertram , 
Ratrannus, &c., who detect their horribly impious 
cheats. But their Indices ezpurgatorii will acquaint 
you with much more. Yet their secret expurgations ar« 
worst of all. James* corruption of councils. 

3* Andreas Scbottus the Jesuit publishing Bail's 



ivootiiro. 179 

works at Antwerp A. D. 161 6< with Jesuitical fidelity, 
left out the epistle, in which is the following; passage. 
Speaking of the Western bishops he saith, '^verily the 
manners of proud men |^ow more insolent, if they be 
honored. If God be merciful to us, what other addition 
have we need of? but if God's anger on us remain, what 
help can the pride of the West bring us ? when they 
neither know the truth, nor can endure to^ speak it ; but 
being prepossessed with false suspicions, they do the 
same things now, which they did in the case of Marcellus, 
contentiously disputing against those that taught the truth, 
but for heresy, confirming it by their authority. Indeed I 
was willing, not as representing the public person of the 
£ast, to write their leader Damasus, but nothing about 
church matters ; that I might intimate that they neither 
knew the truth of the things that are done with us, nor 
did admit the way by which they might learn them. 
And in general, that they should not insult over the calam- 
itous and afflicted, nor think that pride did make for 
their dignity, when that one sin alone is enough to make 
us hateful to God." In which you may see the Roman 
power in those days, in the consciences of Basil and 
other fathers in the £ast. 

4. How Tertullian reverenced them, you may see lib. 
depudicit. where he condemns Zepherinus. The Asian 
bishops condemned Victor, and Irenseus reproved him. 
Cyprian and Firmilian condemned Stephen : Marcellin- 
us was condemned by all. Liberius was oft anathema- 
tized by Hilary. The resistance of Zosimus and Boni- 
face by the Africans, &>c. shows plainly in what esteem 
the DOW infallible universal head was then among the 
fathers and in all the churches. When the Papists men- 
tion such passages, what juggling do they use ? some- 
times they silence them : sometimes they pass them over 
in a faw words that are buried in a heap of other mat- 
ters : and sometimes they bring in forgeries to obscure 
them. But commonly they make a nose of wax of coun- 
cils and fathers, as well as of Scripture, and put any 
ridiculous sense upon them that shall serve their turn, 
thoughperhaps six among them may have six expositions. 
An epistle of Cyril of Jerusalem to Austin is forged 
b J one that Molanus calletb a barbarous impostor ; ffis' 



180 jssotT 

tor. Imag. L 3. e. 36* about the miracks of Jerom, 
where purgatory and other errors are befriended. Whea 
Cyril died tliirty years before Jerom. Yet Suarez and 
oUier most learned Papists njake Ckse of that forgery. 
Mendham*s Policy of Home, 

Of their abominable legends the wiser sort of them- 
selves arc ashamed. If any ancients have abused the 
church by shameless forgeries, the Papists make use of 
- such as confidently as if they were the word of God. 
Let any man but read the life and miracles of Theda, 
and try his faith upon it, whether he be able to believe 
that **Thec]a stood so long at the window to hear Paul 
while all those daily applications and orations were made 
to her ? that Demas and Hermogenes were there to stir 
up the people against Paul as a deceiver, under the clol^e 
of being his companions ; that any of those orations re- 
cited are true, that her mother Theoclaea, and her lover 
Thamiris were on the sudden . so criinl as to burn her, 
while they are said so much to burn in love to her ; that 
when Thecla had formed her body like a cross, and cast 
herself into the flaming pile, tlie flames in reverence of 
the cross, became as a chamber to her, covering her like 
a vault from the people's sight, and not approaching her ; 
and that the earth making a grevious noise, the showers 
and hail destroyed the people, and Thecla went her way 
without observance, finding Paul and Onesiphorus 
hid in a sepulchre at prayer for her: that Paul permitted 
her to cut her hair, and change her habit, and become 
Ills fellow traveller ; that Alexander the governor was so 
inflamed with her beauty at Antioch, even before she 
came in full sight of the people in the city gate, that he 
could not forbear, but presently must leap upon her like 
a mad dog : that she tore his cloak and threw ofi* his 
crown, and so saved her virginity ; that for thb she was 
cast and tied to wild beasts, and the lions couched to 
her, an4 one lioness fought for her, and killed the rest 
that assaulted her ; that yet they turned more upon her : 
dbiat she leaped into the fish pond among the devouring 
tea calves ; and that fire from heaven came down into 
mawmter, and there made her a chamber and saved her 
-.\l|m thoM tea beasts ; that Falconilla's soul appeared 
.tftAvr motber .Tijrplu^ua to beg Thecla*s prayers jtbal 



11TOOUHCI. 181 

die might be admitted into heaven, tdling her how much 
Thecia was admifed in heaven* That at Theda's prayw 
en she was admitted into heaven ; Thelca was again 
tied to the wild bulls, and fire set to them to enrage them, 
the fire iLilled them, and burnt the bonds, and she was 
aBhurt% That Theda again put on man's dothes, and 
sought Paul : that Paul hereupon pronounced her an apos- 
tle and ordained her to go and preach the Gospel, and 
appointed her to one Pagan city ; that she fixed at Seleucia, 
and there converted and baptised many ; and at last 
after many mirades did not die, but entered alive into 
the earth, which opened itself for her in the place where 
the holy table stood ; that after her death she wrought 
one and thirty mirades ; appearing to Basil, and encour- 
aging him when he was weary, to go on in the writing 
of her praises, and plucking him by the ear, and so cur- 
ing his headache, which else would have prevented his 
oration in her praise the next day.'' 

I have instanced but this one case of Thecia, because 
it would be endless to tell you of their fictions. Nor do 
I mention thb as one of their legends, nor as a piece of 
Metaphrastes, but as the works of an ancient father. 
Now either this is Basil's work, or it is not. If it be not,, 
then what trust is to be given to the Papist antiquities, 
and supposed fathers : for this is one of them, and this 
story is vindicated by Petrus Pantinus, and Baronius, 
An. 47, who bringeth a whole army of fathers to attest the 
acts of Thecia, and approveth of this of Basil's, and the 
like of Metaphrastes. Two testimonies trouble him 
shrewdly. One is Tertullian, Baptis. cap. 18. who 
saith thus, ''but if any women read the pretended writings 
of Paul, and the example of Thecia, for women's liberty 
to teach and baptise, let them know that a presbyter in 
Asia, timt framed that writing, mitting Paul's name in- 
stead of his own, was cast out of his place, being convict- 
ed of it, and confessing that he did it in love to Paul.*' 

The other » Jerom's testimony Script. Ecchs. who 
qootinrthe fiire-cited words, saith, "the travels therefore 
Of Paul and Theda, and the whole ftible of the baptised 
Don, we reckon amone Apocrypha! writings :^ fbr how 
can it be, that Luke &b inseparable companion of the 
apbftle was ignorant of thb only among all his matters f" 

16 



fgS " JESUIT 

But Baroniiis thinks that those are not the. same books 
^at TertuUian and Jerom speak against : and why so 1 
because here is no mention of Thecla's preaching and 
baptising^ nor of the lion baptised ; and because so many 
fathers attest the story. But this is a visible falsehood, 
contrary to the express words of the story, which fe^ 
Paul to have sent her to preach as a true apostle, and 
mention her baptising the people of Seleucia. This 
shows how unfit the . fathers are to be the authors of our 
faith, or to be esteemed infallible, who so easily believe 
and recite the forged stories of an Asiatic presbyter, 
even when TertuUian had before revealed the deceit. 

But if this book was written by Basil of Seleucia, and 
Was not spurious, then they who rest upon tlie Holy 
Scriptures alone for the matters of their faith^ do take a 
surer and wiser way, than they wKo. build on the credit of 
credulous impudent fabulous fathers. 

By this you may see that the records and testimonies 
from antiquity are not to be trusted : even asZosimus' 
report of the Nicene canon to the African council was not, 
who proved it a forgery, and so rejected it. When the 
writings are only in their keeping, and their interest call- 
eth them to deprave them, they are not to be trusted ; 
who venture to corrupt those which are in the hands of 
the Christian world. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Pophh Cafamtiy ,- 

Ahovbek of the Pppish ^^vices is, i^Aeii they have 
laid their awn cause tmon S9 many fargeries^ mnd^tp* 
hold Uhj $0 many faUe reporU^ to moJte the peaple 
beli0)e Aat it is we that are the liars, and thai toe are 
not ta he believed in any thimg that we sayrfthem^ and 
that we n$isrepart thefathers.heUe^ the Roman cathoUu: 
and therefore no man shovhi read owr hoakM, or cKs- 
eoaru with us so as to afard us any eredenee. We 
cannot quote what is in their own writers^ hat the igao* 
nai jfM^ 9n tBXMii^ to »Ay we slander them. Tkoagk 



JVOOLIHG. 18S 

we cite the bdok, and page and line, and tell them that 
they were printed at Rome, or Antwerp, or Paris, by 
men of their own profession, yet they believe us not, for 
they are instructed to hold us for liars, that we may be 
incapable of doing them good. If we cite any of the 
fathers, they tell us we misallege them, or have corrupt- 
ed them or they say no such thing. If we show them 
the books published by their own doctors, and licensed 
by their superiors, and printed by Papists, yet they will 
not believe us. And so they are taught the easiest way 
in the world to repel the truth, and confute those that 
would do them good. It is no more but to say, ** you 
He," and all is done. 

In such a case as this, what is there to be done ? igno- 
rance and incredulity thus purposely conjoined, are the 
wall of brass that is opposed to our endeavors. To what 
purpose should we speak to them that will not bear? In 
such a case I know but two ways. 1. Endeavor to revive 
the stupified humanity and reason of those men : and 
ask them, is religion the work of a man or of a beast I 
of a wise man or of a mad man ? Is it a reasonable or 
an unreasonable course ? if it be reasonable, why then 
will you go without reason upon other men^s bare words 1 
but if you are so little men as to venture your souls 
without reason, you should not venture against it? would 
you rest on the bare word of one of those men, if it 
went against reason? if so then you renounce your man- 
hood. But suppose you will be so unreasonable, yet 
you have your live senses still ? If a priest shall tell 
you that the crow is white, and the snow is black, or 
that you see not when you know you see, will you be- 
lieve him ? If you will believe tliem before your eyes, 
and taste, and feeling, then I have done with you. Who 
can dispute with stocks and stones, or men so far for- 
saken of God, as to renounce all their senses ? but if 
you will not believe a Papist against your eyes, and 
other senses, why then do you believe that br^ul is not 
bread, and wine is not wine, when the eyes, and smell, 
and taste of all men say it is 1 and if your senses tell 
you that your priests deceive you in one thing, yoH 
should not be so confident of them in other things, as tq 
believe and hearken to none but them* 



184 JssuiT 

2. Try whether you can procure the priests to discuss 
those points before the incredulous people, that so thej 
may hear both sides speak together. Get a conference 
between them, and some experienced judicious divine. 
But this will hardly be obtained. For if it be to dispute 
with one that is able, they pretend a danger of persecu- 
tion ; and no promise of security will satisfy them. Bii^ 
if it be a weak inexperienced man that challengeth them, 
then they will venture, and take the advantage. 

If nothing else can be done, the best way is to offer 
them some small book against Popery to resid. If tbey 
are so captivated that they will neither hear nor read, 
and their leaders will not be drawn to a dispute, I know 
not what to do but leave them, and let them take what 
they get by their unreasonable obstinacy. They are un- 
worthy of truth that set no more value upon it. 



CHAPTER XX. 

PopUh Mraelet, 

Another of their deceits is by pretended miracles. 
If they hear of a girl who hath hysterical passions in any 
violent degree, they presently go to cast the devil out of 
her, that so they may make deluded people think that they 
have wrought a miracle. And weak people, and per* 
haps the diseased woman herself, may be so much unac- 

Iuainted with the disease, as verily to believe the priests, 
lat they have a devil indeed ; and so turn Papists when 
the cure is wrought, as thinking it was done by the finger 
of God, 

The same course they take also in distractions of other 
diseases ; and sometimes persons are trained op by them 
to dissemble and counterfeit a lunatic or possessed state« 
Because Tuberville pleads their miracles, I shaU revive 
the memory pf one of the great miracles that was done 
among their proselytes in the parish of Wolverhampton. 
At Bilson, in^the parish of Wolverhampton ift Stafford- 
shire there was a hoy named William Peiry, who 
through Popish devices soeme4 to b^ po6«et9ed with % 



iir«otilr«. 188 

devil, aboat tbirfeen yean old, but of special wit above 
bb age* In bis fits he seemed to be deaf, and bliad^ 
writhing his month aside, continually groaning and pant- 
ing, and when he was pricked^ pinched, whipped, he 
professed not to feel. He seemed to take no food that 
would digest, hut with it cast up rags, thread, straw, pins, 
dtc., his belly almost as flat as his back, his throat swelled 
and hard, his tongue stiff and rolled up towards the roof 
of his mouth, so that he appeared always dumb, save that 
once in a fortnight or three weeks he would speak a few 
words. It was thought he was bewitched by Joan Cocks, 
because he would discern when that woman was brought 
into the room, though itwere secretly done, as was tried 
before the grand jmy at Stafford. He would not 
endure the repeating of the first verse of John. In the 
beginning was the word^ ^c.\ but other texts he would 
endure. When the parents had been wearied with him, 
and the country flocked in to see him, a priest of the 
Romish religion was invited to cure him. The priest 
exorcised him, praying in Latin over him, hanging a stone 
about his neck, washing him with holy water, witch water, 
and anointing him with holy oil, d&c, which seemed to ease 
him, and make him speak, and sometimes cure him for the 
time. They hallowed all his meat and drink. He would 
not so much as. eat raisins, or smell to flowers, unless they 
were blessed by the priest. He told them that while the 
puritans stood by him he saw the devil assault him in the 
shape of a black bird. The priest required the chief 
fiend to show himself: then the boy put out his tongue 
swelled. The priest commanded him to show the peo- 
ple by the sheet before him, how he would use those that 
died out of the Roman church : whereupon he pulled and 
bit and tossed the sheet, till the people cried out and 
wept. Then he commanded the devil to tell him, how 
he did use Luther, Calvin and John Fox : and he play- 
ed the same part more fiercely than before. Then the 
priest commanded him to show what power he had of a 
good catholic that died out of mortal sin : and then he 
thrust down his arms, and hanged down his head and 
trembled. The boy prombed when his fit was over, that 
he would live and die a catholic, persuading his parents 
and friendfl, dtc In this manner three priests one after 

16* 



184 JssuiT 

2. Try whether you can procure the priests to jdiscuu 
those points before the incredulous people* that so tbej 
may hear both sides speak together. Get a conference 
between them, and some experienced judicious divine. 
But this will hardly be obtained. For if it be to dispute 
with one that is able, they pretend a danger of persecu- 
tion ; and no promise of security will satisfy them. But 
if it be a weak inexperienced man tha^ challengeth tbem, 
then they will venture, and take the advantage. 

If nothing else can be done, the best way^is to offer 
them some small book against Popery to read. If they 
are so captivated that they will neither hear nor read, 
and their leaders will not be drawn to a dispute, I know 
not what to do but leave them, and let them take what 
they get by their unreasonable obstinacy. They are un- 
worthy of truth that set no more value upon it. 



CHAPTER XX, 

PopUh Mradet, 

Another of their deceits is by pretended miracles. 
If they hear of a girl who hath hysterical passions in any 
violent degree, they presently go to cast the devil out of 
her, that so they may make deluded people think that they 
have wrought a miracle. And weak people, and per* 
haps the diseased woman herself, may be so much unac« 
quainted with the disease, as verily to believe the priests, 
that they have a devil indeed ; and so turn Papists when 
the cui'e is wrought, as thinking it was done by the finger 
of God, 

The same course they take also in distractions of other 
diseases ; and sometimes persons are trained op by them 
to dissemble and counterfeit a lunatic or possessed state« 
Because Tuberville pleads their miracles, I shall revive 
the memory pf one of the great miracles that was done 
among their proselytes in the parish of Wolverhampton. 

At Bilson, in^the parish of Wolverhampton ift Stafford- 
shire there was a boy named William Perry, who 
through Popish devices soeme4 to be pesn^iped with % 



iir«oLilr«. 188 

evil, aboat thirfeen years old, but of special wit above 
is age. In his fits he seemed to be deaf, and bliad^ 
rithing his month aside, continually groaning and pant- 
tg, and when he was pricked, pinched, whipped, he 
rofessed not to feel. » He seemed to take no food that 
ould digest, hut with it cast up rags> thread, straw, pins, 
>c., his belly almost as flat as his back, his throat swelled 
id hard, his tongue stiff and rolled up towards the roof 
r his mouth, so that he appeared always dumb) save that 
ftce in a fortnight or three weeks be would speak a few 
ords. It was thought he was bewitched by Joan Cocks, 
ecause he would discern when that woman was brought 
ito the room, though it were secretly done, as was tried 
efore the grand jury at Stafford. He would not 
ndure the repeating of the first verse of John. In the 
eginning was the word^ S^c.^ but other texts he would 
ndure. When the parents had been wearied with him, 
nd the country flocked in to see him, a priest of the 
lomish religion was invited to cure him. The priest 
xorcised him, praying in Latin over him, hanging a stone 
ibout his neck, washing him with holy water, witch water, 
md anointing him with holy oil, d&c, which seemed to ease 
lim^ and make him speak, and sometimes cure him for the 
ime. They hallowed all bis meat and drink. He would 
lot so much as eat raisins, or smell to flowers, unless they 
v^ere blessed by the priest. He told them that while the 
)urltans stood by him he saw the devil assault him in the 
ihape of a black bird. The priest required the chief 
lend to show himself: then the boy put out his tongue 
swelled. The priest commanded him to show the peo- 
ple by the sheet before him, how he would use those that 
died out of the Roman church : whereupon he pulled and 
bit and tossed the sheet, till the people cried out and 
\frept. Then he commanded the devil to tell him, how 
be did use Luther, Calvin and John Fox : and he play- 
ed the same part more fiercely than before. Then the 
priest commanded him to show what power he had of a 
good cathonc that died out of mortal sin : and then he 
thrust down his arms, and hanged down his head and 
trembled. The boy prombed when his fit was over, that 
tie would live and die a catholic, persuading his parents 
lod friends* d[«. In thii manner three priests one after 

16* 



tie iUtit 

the other followed the ciire,ttHl focceeding^ hot yet not 
curing him ; that they ongfat drmtr the coontcy to a 
longer observance of them, aad p re ach ed to them in the 
house, that the miracle might be the more famous^ Fof 
there were many devilv in him^ they saidi to be cittt OtttI 
and it stopped the core beciluse the mother woidd tpi 
t)romi8e them io tUm t'apist if they cored him. Bttt Jo 
the mean time the supposed witch was broo^ to tfial 
at Stafford assises, 16^, before Judges Warburton and 
Davies. But the judges desired B'ishop Morton then 
present to take care of the boy, who took him home to 
his castle at Eccleshall^ and fliter certain weeks tinier 
having determined to try him$ the bishop catne to the 
boy^ and told him that he understood that he coUld not 
endure the first verse of John* And, saith he, *^ the 
devil understandeth Greek as well as English, being a 
scholar of almost six thousand years standing, and there- 
fore he knows when I recite that verse in Greek :'^ and 
so calling for a Greek testament^ he read the 12th verse, 
and the boy thinking it had been the firsts fell into his 
fit: and when that fit was over^ the bishop read the firM 
Verse, and then the boy had no fit^ thiliking it had been 
jk>me dther verse. And thus they proved him a deceiver^ 
and the boy was much confounded ; but pretended more 
distraction : and then that he might get away, he com-' 
plained of extreme sickness, and water was in the urinal, 
as black as ink, groaning when he made it : but the third 
day after, they spied him mixing ink, and nimbly con- 
veying away the inkhorn. When they came in upon 
him, and found him in the conveyance, he broke out into 
tearSj and was suddenly cured ; and confessed all^ how 
he had been taught his art^ and how he did all$ and con^ 
fessed that his intent was to be cured by a priest, and to 
turn Papist. 

But before the bishop had discovered the knavery, on^ 
of the conjuring priests wrote the narrative of the bmi* 
ifess, entitled A faithful relaiian oj the proceedings of 
tht eatholic gentlemen with the hof qfBilsan^ showing) 
inc. And they berin with. Not ioUt^O Lordi hut to thjf 
fimme gite the glory / And so they proceed to make 
their report of it, for deluding the people^ an a miracle. 
At last the bishop brought the bey at the itfsiaeSi 1621, 



ItfMttNO. 187 

to ask parcton openly of God, and the woman accused by 
him, and of the 4;oantry cheated by him, and there was 
an end of that Popish miracle. Abundance more such 
I cooU gite you out of certain records ; but I recite 
this for the sake of the Papbts of Wolverhampton, where 
TuberrlUe lived. 

For miracles, if you regard not us, yet open yotlf ears to 
a Jesuit that spealu the truth* JosepH Acosia de temparib. 
novis. lib* 3. c. S. '* To all the miracles of Antichrist, 
though he. do great ones, the church shall boldly oppose 
the belief of the Scriptures : and by the inexpugnable 
testimony of this truth, shall by most clear light dispel 
all his jugglings as clouds. Signs are given to infidels, 
Scriptures to believers; and therefore the primitive 
church abounded with miracles, when infi ^els were to 
be called : but the last, when the faithful are already 
called, shall rest mofe on the Scripture, than on miracles. 
I will boldly say, that all miracles are vain and empty, 
uidess they be approved by the Scripture ; that is, have a 
doctrine confoi'med to the Scripture. The Scripture is of 
itself a most firm argument of truth.^' 

If miracles be so much to be looked at, why not give 
us leave to observe them ? The same miracles that you 
l^ast of, do testify against you, if they be true. Prosper 
makes mention of a miracle, which ThyrcBus de Damoniac* 
p% 76; recites was done by the sacramental winoi *' A 
person possessed by the" devil was cured, after many 
other means used in vain, by the drinking of the wine 
in the Eucharist." Doth not this miracle justify us that 
give the people the wine, and condemn you, that refuse 
to gvte it them 1 Many other miracles the fathers say 
Were done by the sacrament in both kinds received, 
which condemn you that forbid it. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Pofiah D8ceUfultus3. 

Atlo¥0Bk of the Papist ways of deceiving is, by tm- 
pudeni UeM and slanders against their adversaries; 
fOhich they vent vnth such confidence^ that the seduced 



188 rttnvvt 

people eoiUy believe them* They who are taught to believe 
their priests against their own seeing, hearing, feeling, 
tasting and smelling, will believe the vilest lies that they 
are pleased to utter, in cases where the miserable peo« 
pie are unable to disprove them. 

1. In a manuscript of the Papbts which I lately re« 
ceived there are these words ^ **Luther having richly 
supped, and made his friends merry with his facetious 
conceits, died the same niffht^ This is testified by Coch-* 
leus in vita Luiheri^ JoTin Calvin, a branded sodomite, 
consumed with lice and worms, died blaspheming and call* 
ing upon the devil. This is registered by Schlusselburge 
and Bolsec. These were the ends of the parents of 
the Protestant and presbyterian pretended reformed re« 
ligions." 

As if their own tongue . must sentence them to hell, 
in the very words before they )Uiy, ** all liars, their part 
shall be in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, 
which is the second death;" and so make application 
oi it to the Protestants, as being liars ; and when they 
have done, conclude with -the two fore-cited impudent 
lies of Luther and Calvin. The like words of Calvin, 
Baily hath in his papers to Charles I* the whole writ- 
ing being stuffed with such impudent falsehoods, that one 
would wonder that human nature should be capable of 
such wickedness, and that the silly people should swal« 
low down such heaps of deceits. Not those two alone, 
but multitudes of Papists have written those lies of 
Luther and Calvin. Thyrseus the Jesuit in hu book dt 
Damoniacis, part, 1. cap. 8. p. 21, tells us; ^*-the same 
day that Luther died, there was at.Gheola a town in 
Brabant, many persons posessed of devils, that waited on 
their Saint Dymna for deliverance, and were all that day 
delivered : but the next day they were all possessed 
again ; whereupon the exorcist or some body asked the 
devils where they had been the day before; and they 
answered, that they were commanded by their prince to 
be at the funeral of their fellow laborer Luther. And 
for proof of this, Luther^s own servant that was with him 
at his death, looking out at the window, did more than 
once, to his ffreat terror, see a company of ugly spirits 
leaping and danciog about without : and also that the 



* - 



JVOOLINO. 189 

crows followed the corpse all the way with a great noise." 

wonderful patience and mercy of God, that suffer 
such most abominable liars to live, and doth not cause 
some sodden vengeance to befall them ! I will tell the 
case of those two servants of Christ that are thus reviled, 
even as their master was before them, who was said to 
do miracles by the power of the devil. 

Luther was taken with a great pain in his breast, 
about the moudi of the stomach, and thought his death 
when it came would be sudden ; which made him say : 
"strike Lord, strike mercifully, for I am ready." Hav- 
ing preached bis last sermon at Wittemberg, Jan. 17, 
he took his journey the 23d, to Isleben, whither he was 
called. When he came thither, he was grown so \y^^^9 
that they almost despaired of his life ; yet by the use of 
fomentations he had so much ease, as that he preached 
sometime, and did other work from Jan. 29, to Feb. 17. 
The last day of his life,4hough he was weak, yet he sat 
at the table with them, and at supper his discourse was 
upon the question, whether we shall know one another 
in heaven? Which he affirmed and proved, in that 
Adam knew Eve as soon as he saw her, that she was 
flesh of his flesh: and therefore much more shall we 
know one another in heaven,, &c. After supper, he 
withdrew himself as he used, for private pi-ayer ; but the 
pain of his breast increased on him. When he had ta- 
ken a medicine, he lay down on a couch and slept 
sweetly two hours, and then went to his chamber, saying 
to those about him ; "Pray God to preserve the doc- 
trine of the Gospel to us ; for the pope and council of 
Trent have stange contrivances." When he was laid 
down and had slept a while he awakened, and found by 
the increase of his pain, that h^ was near his end, and 
spoke to God as^ followeth, in their hearing : '^O my 
heavealy father, the God and father of our Lord Jesus 
Chriat, the God of all consolation, I thank thee that thou 
bast revealed to me thy son Jesus Christ, in whom I haye 
believed, whomi have professed, whom I have loved^whom. 

1 have honored, whom the Pope of Rome and the rest of th^ 
rabble of the ungodly do persecute and reproach : I beseech 
thee, O my Lord Jesus Christ, receive my souL O my 
heavenly father, though I am taken from this life, and 



190 JESUIT 

though my body must now be laid down, yet I know 
certainly that I shall abide with thee forever, and that 
none can take me out of thy hands." Then he sdd ; 
*^so loved God tlie world, that he gave his only Son, 
that whoever believeth in him, should not perish, but 
have everlasting life/' Then he repeated part of Psahu 
68 : and when he had drank a medicine that was given 
him, he said ; ^*I go hence : I now return my spirit unto 
God,** presently adding, **Father into thy hands I com- 
mend my spirit, thou hast redeemed me O God of truth." 
And so he died as if he were setting himself to sleep, 
without any sign of farther pain. But when they saw 
him dying, Jonas and Cselius asked hiin, *'do you die 
constant through Christ in his doctrine which you have 
hitherto preached ?'* and he answered, Yes ; and never 
spoke more. , When he was dead at Isleben ; Count 
Mansfield would have kept his body, but« the duke of 
Saxony would not suffer him, but caused h to be cwrned 
back to Wittemberg, and there with great solemnity 
interred. 

This is the true report in brief of Luther's death, 
delivered to the world by those who stood by him, and 
were eye-witnesses. Yet impudent lying Papbts have 
persuaded their followers that the devils were seen danc- 
ing about him, that when he was buried, there was a hor- 
rible thunder, and the body was taken away out of the 
coffin by the devil, and a stink of brimstone left behind ; 
with more such stuff as this, which they have printed, 
and of which one would think eveh the father of lies would 
be ashamed. 

Of Calvin, not only those before mentioned, but also 
Bolsec, Surius, Prateolus, Demochares, Lindanus, Sane- 
tesius, Cahierus, and others publish to the. world, not 
only that he was an epicure, but a sodomite. Lessius 
the Jesuit impudently calls Christ to witness, that shall 
judge all men according to their works, that he doth not 
devise these things out of his own brain, but from good 
authors, and forty years current fame. His authors are 
those Papists, Bolsec, Brigenis, Stapleton, Campiaa, 
Duraeus, Surius, and Reginald. Hath hell any greater 
calumnies than those to fill the mouths or writings of 
men with all T . 



iUOOLtNG. 191 

As for the time when they say he was stigmatized for 
xlomy, it was when he was a Papist, and therefore if 
had heen true, it had been a greater dishonor to them 
lan to us. But it is a mere forgery of the devil and a 
'lar. Bolsec a fiiar seemed to turn Protestant, and 
oming to Geneva, began to preach the Pelagian doc- 
-ine there, and openly contend against the pastors in 
le congregation ; and being confounded by Calvin, the 
lagistrates imprisoned him, and banished him for sedi- 
on. Then he went to the neighboring towns, to play the 
ame game there : but the magistrates of Berne also ban^ 
ihed him out of their country. Whereupon he turned 
^apist again, and when Calvin was dead, he wrote all 
bose abominable lies of him. And all the rest took up 
he report from that one lying heretical Papist: and so 
t became current fame with them, as if it were as true 
IS the Gospel. Whereupon our writers challenged them 
D search the records at Noviodunum, where they say 
be thing was done, and prove that ever there was such 
thing ; or else bear the open shame of liars. They 
an bring no proof, but call on us to disprove it ; though 
!ie city are Papists, and haters of Calvin. But the 
^apist dean of that city. Jacobus le Vasseur, published 
t Paris, 1633, the annals of their cathedral church, and 
lerein pouring out his hatred against Calvin, doth yet 
ut of their records clear him of all those accusations, 
nd lets the world know that there was never any such 
ling, and that they had no crime at all against him, but 
lat he turned from the Papists; and that the mayor 
f the city went away with Calvin, when he was forced 
> fly from his native country. He recites all the pas- 
iges of Calvin^a life there, but professeth that tliey 
ad no more against him. Thus God confounded the 
^ing Papists by one of themselves, and the records 
f that city, where they s&id the thing was done. And 
et they believe one another, and carry on the lie to 
hit day. . 

Amstrowther the chaplain to the King of England's 
mhjafwador with the. emperor, being at Vienna, heard 
be Jesuits and others repeating confidently that shin* 
ler of Calvin : whereupon he opened to th^m that evi- 
bnce against it, and satisfied them of the falsehood. 



192 IBIUtT 

Rivet Sum. Contr, against Baily. JesuiiM VmptJtmt 
cap, 2. 

As for the life of Calvin after he forsook the Papists, 
if you will believe thb city of Geneva, and all the minis- 
ters and others that were albout him, in his life and at his 
death, who knew better than Bolsec a fugitive apostate Pa- 
pist that was his enemy, and then far off, you may see at 
large in Melckior Adamus^ and Beza, the description of 
a shining burning light of which Rome hath not to boast 
He was a man of admirable judgment, industry, and 
piety. When he had forsaken his own country fw the 
Gospel^s sake, and taken up in Greneva, and planted the 
Gospel there, with Farel and Viret, at last the ungodly 
part getting the head, the ministers were banished ; and 
so he settled in another city. The four bailiffii of Ge- 
neva that banbhed the ministers, within two years were 
ruined by the judgments of God. One of them accused 
of sedition, seeking to escape through a window, fell and 
was broken to death. Another was put to death for 
murder. The other two being accused of mal-adminjs- 
tration, fled and were condemned. Calvin- was sent for, 
and intreated to return to Geneva, which by importunity, 
and Bucer*s persuasion, he yielded. There was he con- 
tinually molested by the ungodly, and loved by the good. 
The malignauts whom he would restrain by discipline 
from drunkenness, and other wickedness, were still plot- 
ting or raging against him, and called their dogs by his 
name. But shame was still the end of their attempts. 
His revenge was to tell theni, '* I see I should have but 
sorry wages if I served man : but it is well for me that I 
wrve him that always perfonneth bis promises tojiis ser- 
vants." He preached every day in the week each se- 
cond week, and rend three days a week a divinity lec- 
ture. Every Thursday he guided the presbytery ; and 
every Friday at a meeting l^ held an expository confer- 
ence and lecture ; so tlwt the whole came to almost 
twelve sermons a week. Besides this, he wrote episdes 
to nost countries of Christendom, to princes, divines 
and others ; and all those great -rolomes of the most 
learned judkions eontroverries, commentariesf and other 
treatises, which one would have thoi^ht mighC littve been 
w^k mmgli lop a ma ttet had lived an hmAM jwtt, 



if he had done bo other. Many heretice he confuted, 
tnd some convinced and reduced. He set up among 
ministers a course of teaching every family from house 
to house, of which he found incredible fruit. For all 
this his labor he endured the affronts, contradictions, 
tnd reproaches of the rabble, and sometimes was beaten 
by them. Because he would not administer the sacra- 
ment to ungodly men, that were lulers in the place, he 
was at first banished, and after threatened, and contin- 
ually molested by them, and railing fellows set to 
preach and write against him. He always used a very 
spare diet : and for ten years before his death did never 
taste one bit, but at supper, as his constant course : so 
that every day was with him a better fast than the Pa- 
pists make on their fasting days. By this extreme la- 
bor, speaking, and fasting, and watching, for he dicta- 
ted his writings as he lay in bed much, he overthrew 
his body ; falling first into a tertian fever, and then into 
a quartan ; and after that he fell into a consumption, 
with the gout and stone, and spitting of blood, and the 
disease in .the hemorrhoid veins, which at last ulcer- 
ated by over-much fasting, speaking, and use of aloes; 
besides the head-ach which was the companion of his 
life. In those sicknesses he would never forbear his 
labor, but when he was persuaded to it, he told them, 
that he could not bear an idle life. And when he was 
near to death was still at work, asking those that in- 
treated him to forbear, whether they would have God 
find him idle ? Under all those pains of gout, stone, 
cholic, headache, hemorrhoids, consumption, &c. 
those that were about him testified to the world, that 
they never heard him speak a word unbeseeming a 
patient Christian. The worst was that oft repeated 
word, "how long. Lord! how longl" as being weary 
of a miserable world. Witnesses he had enough ; for 
he could scarce have rest for people crowding to him 
to visit him. On March 23, he went among the minis- 
ters to their meeting, and took his farewell of them 
there. The next day he was wearied by it : but the 
twenty seventh day he was carried to the court, to the 
senate of die city ; where he made a speech to them, 
and took his farewell of them, with many tears on both 

17 . 




194 JBStiT 

sides. April 2, he was carried to church, and staid tbe 
'termoD, and received the sacrament. Afterwards the 
lenate of the city came to him, and he made a hearenlY 
exhortation to them. On April 25, he dictated his will. 
His library itself, and all his goods, amotinted scarcely 
to three hundred crowns. May 11, he wrote his farewejl 
to Fareil. May 19, all the njinisters came to biiOr 
with whom he sat and did eat, and cheerfully took his 
leave of them. On th^ twenty-seventh of May his voice 
seemed to be stronger, and so continued till his last 
breath that day, which was with such quietness as 
men compose themselves to sleep. The next night and 
day the city magistrates, ministers, scholars, people 
and strangers, were taken up in weeping and lamenta- 
tion. He was buried according to his desire in the 
common church yard, without any monument or pomp; 
and hath left behmd him such a name, as in spite of all 
the devils in hell, and all the Papists on earth, shall be 
precious till the coming of Christ: and such writings 
hath he left as are the comfort of the disciples of truth, 
and the shame of the reproaching adversaries. 

This is that Calvin who is so bated by the bad, and" 
loved and honored by the good : whom those Papists 
have called an epicure and sodomite, and said that he 
died blaspheming, and calling upon the devil, and was 
eaten witn lice and worms. Is not God exceedingly 
patient, that will suffer such wretches to live on the 
earth? what man could they have named since Augus- 
tin, yea since the .apostles' days, that was more unfit 
for such a slander than Calvin ? yet because Bolsec, 
who was banished and turned Papist, hath written 
those things against him, the rest take them up as con- 
fidently, as if the infallible chair had uttered them. 

But yet if you think Bolsec is more to be believed 
than those who lived with Calvin, and the city of Gen- 
eva, who had continual access to him, I will give a 
testimony which shall shame the Papists that have a 
jspark of modesty. Hear then what other Papists say, 
ithat knew better, or made more CQnscieDce of their 
words. - 

Fiorimund Raimutid a Papist of Bourcleattx, or the 
lesuh Richeome that wrote in his name, wr ixiifg for 



JVOOLIKO. 195 

the pope aod against Calvin, hath these words of him: 
"Under a dry and lean body he had a sharp and liyely 
wit ; ready in answering ;. bold in attempting ; a great 
fiister ; even from his youth, whether for his health to 
overcame the headache, or for his studies. There is 
scarce a man found that ever matched Calvin in labors : 
for the space of twenty -three years, in which he remain- 
ed in Geneva, he preached every day once, and twice 
on the Lord's day often times. And every week he 
read public lectures of divinity besides ; and every Fri- 
day he was at the conference of the pastors : the rest of 
his time he spent either in writing books, or answering 
letters." 

Papirius Massonius a learned Papist, who wrote 
Calvin's life ; saith of him, "no day almost passed in 
which he did not preach to the citizens. Thrice every 
eight days, as long as he.lived, he professed or publicly 
taught divinity in the schools; being laborious, and al- 
ways writing or doing something. Of a weak tody* 
but worn by watchings, reading, writing, meditations, 
diseases, business, preachings. He took very little 
sleep^ and therefore much of his works he dictated in 
bed to his servant that wrote them from his mouth. He 
did eat but once a day : and confessed that he found 
not a more present or surer remedy for his weakness 
of stomach and headache. His clothing was of small 
price, to cover him rather than adorn him. At Worms 
and Ratisbon he exercised the strength of an excellent 
wit with so great applause of the German divines, that 
by the judgment of M elanchton and his associates, by a 
peculiar privilege, he was called the divine. He wrote 
as much and as well as any man of the contrary par- 
ties, whether you respect number, acuteness, language, 
sharpness, emphasis or subtilty. Not a man of all his 
adversaries, wneiher catholics, anabaptists, Lutherans, 
Arians, or the forsakers of his party, that wrote against 
him, did seem to match him, in gravity of writing, and 
weight of words, and sharpness in answering his prin« 
ciples. He almost terrified Pighius himself discours- 
ing of free will, and Sadaletus." 

Papists tcU us a story how Calvin hired one in Gren- 
m to mke on him to be dead, that he might have the 



196 • J«8FIT 

honor of raising him from the dead. Thiathe Jesuit f hy* 
rseus de Dsemoniacis writes, and it goes among them 
for a truth ; from the report of Bolsec. But Massonius 
£onfuteth this also, and saith that Baldwin knew noth- 
ing of it, who lived at Geneva, andaflei turned Papist, 
and was Calvin's enemy: and other reasons be giveth to 
disprove this and the other slanders that were raised of 
Calvin ; saying, that they were bat vulgar writers, that 
study or love to reproach or speak evil, that vend those 
things. 

As they have done by those, so by others also. When 
Beza was eighty years of age, a felse report came to 
the Papists that he was dead : whereupon Claudius 
Puteanus with his Jesuitical companions wrote a book, 
that at his death he turned Papist and renounced his 
religion. So that the old man who lived seven years 
longer, wrote against them, to prove that he was not 
dead, nor turned Papist. Those be the means by which 
men are recDuciled to the church of Rome. 

They have printed also a story that Calvin's .own 
son being bitten by a mad dog, was sent by his father 
to one of their saint's images fo*r cure, when no other 
means would serve ; and being cured, he turned Pa- 
pist: but the world know that Calvin never had a son. 
Also they tell us of a saying of Luther^s, that "this 
cause was not begun in the name of God, nor will it 
be ended in the name of a God ;" which Luther spoke 
of Eckius and the other Papists, yet those shameless 
liars confidently publish that he spoke this of himself. 

They annex that Luther would have men not con- 
tain, but he vehemently detesteth it, and urgeth the con- 
trary, telling th m that God no doubt will enable them 
to be continent, if they will use his means. Serm. de- 
Matrimon. They forgot that the fifth supposititious epis- 
tle of their Clement pleading for the community of all 
things, adds, **amonff those all, no doubt wives and hus- 
bands are contained." 

Of the horrid lies of Genebrard, Possevin, and other 
Papists against Peter Martyr, Beza, Calvin and others, 
see Reynolds de Idololatria Rom. JEccL 5. 

When the fall of their house at Blackfriars had 
killed their priest, and such abundance of the people 



i 



ITTOOLtHO. 1^7 

who were hearing him in the midst of the sermon ; they 
printed a beok to persuade the people beyond sea, that 
it was a company of the heretics or puritans, that were 
killed at the nearing of one their preacher^ 

When the Gunpowder Plot was in hand, they con* 
tiived presentlr to give it all abroad that the puritans 
did it. Clarlct Mirror ofGoXs Judgments, 

When Fisher, the Jesuit had held his conference 
with Featly and White, there being present two earls ; 
one of them, the Earl of Warwick, having business 
shortly after beyond sea, fell unknown into Weston's 
company, at Saint Omers, who presently told him for 
Dews, how Fisher had confounded the Protestant doc- 
tors, and that two earls and so many people were turn- 
ed by it to the Church of Rome; not knowing that he 
who heard him was one of the two earls, and that there 
were not so many people there, and how they were 
confirmed against Popery by that dispute. When the 
Earl of Warwick brought home that jest, Weston hear- 
ing what sport was made with it in England, wrote an 
excuse for his lying. 

Their very worship of God is composed of lies, and 
is that acceptable worship T Their offices and legends 
are stuffed with fictions, Cassander saith : " so few of 
the relics in all Germany would be found true ones it 
examined, that it is better quite to take off people 
from the veneration of them ;" instancing in one that 
was worshipped as a saint, and upon inquiry was found 
to be the bones of a thief. 

Agobard of Lyons, pomplained about eight hundred 
years ago, that the " Antiphonary used in his church 
had many ridiculous and phantastical things in it : and 
that therefore he corrected much of it; cutting off what 
seemed superfluous, or light, or lying, or blasphemous." 
Agobard. ad Cant. Lugd. de Correctione Antiphon. 
Lindan made the like complaint- " Not only apocry- 
phal matters out of the gospel of Nicodemus and other 
toys are thrust in, but even the secret prayers, and alas 
for shame and grief, the very canon varying and re- 
dundant, are defiled with the most filthy faults." 

Therefore, as thou lovest thy soul, trust it not on the 
bare rM>orts of such liars, but try before thou trust ; and 

17» 



Ids ^tiOff 

ffive not up thy sense and reason to men, that make fO 
little or so ill a use of their own. 



MkitaHrt 



CHAPTER XXII. 

TranOaOtiu ^ On BiUe. 

Another of their Deceits is to quarrel with ouf 
Translations of the Bible ; and make the people believe . 
that we have so corrupted it; that it is none of the wpid 
of Qod and so they openly scorn it, and deride it. 

Though learned men can soon confute them by vin- 
dicating the text as in the original languages, and then 
vindicating our translation, yet the common disputant 
need not put them and himself to so much trouble If 
they will but let the law of (jod contained in the Holy 
Scripture be the rule by which our difference shall be 
tried and decided, we will cut short the rest of the con- 
troversy, and take it wholly together; and we will 
stand to the vulgar Latin, which themselves applaud; 
and that shall be the rule between us. Rather than 
they shall shift off the unlearned by these tricks, we 
will admit of their own translation, which the Rhemists 
have composed. Only their commentaries, and conceits 
shall not be taken into the text as part of the word of 
God. That quarrel is quickly at an end. The Scrip- 
ture is so full against them, that no translation that 
makes it not another thing, can be on their side. Kid- 
der's "Reflections on the French Testament, printed at 
Bourdeaux." 



CHAPTER XXIII, 

Popish Riproaehe$ Q/PnUHmU MmuUrs. 

Anothxr of the designs of the Papists is to bring 
all the faithful pastors of the chufches into coniemptf 
or suspicion Oft least, with the people, so that ihey may 



u 



swa^ttsQ. 199 

draw then to rt/mse 9mr keifs, mmd the Pmpisis «4ijf 
deal taUh ikem mUtu^ w/Uii ikef kwow tkey mrt 
tasHy oHe U overrtrndu Tkoagh oar people hare 
dot that absolute depeodedce upon tbeir teachers as 
theirs hare, yet an ordinate dependence is necessary to 
them, or else Gk>d would neTer hare appointed teach* 
ers and pastorsfiNT his church. The Papists dare not 
trust their folloirers 90 much as to read a Bible in their 
rulgar tongue ; much less to read our writings against 
their errors and impieties. Their priests and friars 
ordinarily do not read them : nor commonly the writ- 
ings of their own party: nor* the strongest of those that 
are written against us : for f€*ar lest the objections should 
prove too hard for the answer, or lest they should un- 
derstand in some measure, the truth of our doctrine. 
Sandys, in his Europa Speeul , tells how hard he 
found it, to meet with the works of Bellarmin himself 
in any book-seller's shop in Venice or other parts of 
Italy ; but our people have all leave to keep and read 
the«Papist writings. We dare venture them upon the 
light upon equal terms : but yet we know them to be 
insuffieient, for the most part, to defend even plain and 
necessary truths, against the cavils of adversaries that 
overmatch them in learning and other abilities. Now 
lest we should but afford them our assistance, the Pa- 
pists' principal design is to bring them into false con- 
ceits of the ministers, and make us odious to them ; that 
they may neglect our help, and the easier hearken to 
other teachers. If they can but prevail in that design, 
the souls of our people are like to be undone. 

The tnore is it to be feared, lest at last they should 
this way prevail, bpth because of the sin that lieth on 
ourselves in too reserved and negligent a doing of our 
work; aiid because of the great obstinacy and unprofit- 
ableness of the people, that hate the light, and untnank- 
fully despise it, or will not obey it, and work by it 
while they may. 

The designs of the Papists against the ministry are 
these. They principally endeavor to delude the rulers 
of the land, and set them aginst them. 

They labor by scoffs and nicknames to make them 
odious. As they were the authors or chief fomenters 




of the old scorn under the name of Puritans, so are 
thej of many more of late. If you hear men set them* 
selves of purpose to scorn or vilify the ministry, they 
are either secret Papists, or their deluded servitors, u 
they speak of men that regard the ministry, and be not 
hardened as they to a despising of Christ in his ser- 
vants, they call such priest-ridden ; and the pastors they 
scornfully call jack-presbyters, <2r^vines ; and many 
other scoffs are at hand, to serve the ends of the devil 
and the pope, by alienating the affections t>f the people 
from their teachers, that so they may devour them at 
pleasure. 

Another of their ways of reproach is this: they tell 
the people vtrhat odious divisions are among us, and 
how many minds we are of, and how oft we change; 
and such like reproaches. While they never tell them 
how n)uch more changeable they have been, and wjiat 
divisions are among themselves, incomparably beyond 
all ours. 

Another reproach that t lie, Papists cast on the minis- 
try, is greediness, covetousness, and being hirelings. 

I will give a brief comparison between the Papist 
priests and the ministers of Christ, that thou mayest 
see whether those men be fit to rail at us as mercena- 
ries, and such as are the servants of mammon. 

It is well known that the ministers of this land, and 
of all the reformed churches commonly, do many of 
them want necessaries, and some want food and rai- 
ment, and the rest of them for the most part have little 
more, and no superfluities. Some that have not wives 
afid children give all they can gather to the poor. 
Some give more to charitable uses, than they receive 
for the work of their ministry; living on their own 
means. This is the height of their covetousness and 
ambition. 

Take a view of the Popish clergy, for greatness, 
riches, and numerousness. The pope who is their 
chief priest, pretendeth to the government of all the 
Christian world. Emperors and kings have kissed his 
feet, and held him the stirrup. One emperor was forced 
to wait bare foot at his gates a long time in patience, 
till he pleased to open them. Another being forced to 



JVOOLIKO. 201 

prostrate himself to him, the pope set his foot upon his 
Deck, profanely ahusiog the words of Psalm 91. 13. 
He shall tread on the lion and adder, &c. Divers 
princes hath he deposed. ' He hath claimed a supre- 
macy in temporals and spirituals, and his most moder- 
ate flatterers subject princes to him. General councils 
approved by him, decreed that he shall excommunicate 
and depose princes, who will not extirpate those that he 
calleth heretics, and shall commit the government to 
others, or give their countries to the first that can seize 
on them, and absolve all their vassels for their allegi- 
ance, in despite of oaths and God's commands. He is 
a temporal prince himself, having large dominions. 
He hath so numerous a clergy in the countries of all 
Popish princes, as makes him great and formidable to 
them. His cardinal, priests are equal to princes, and 
greater than many princes are. 

For their riches and numbers, to say no more of 
their pope and cardinals, they have such multitudes of 
arch-bishops, priests, abbots, priors, friars, and 
Jesuits, as to take up a great part of the land where 
they live. Take one instance of the Popish clergy in 
France 

Bodin, a French judge in France, saith; HeylirCs 
Geograjphy^ page 148. "That the revenues of the 
clergy there are Ryq millions seven hundred and sixty 
thousand dollars per annum ; and that they possess 
seven partsof twelve of the whole revenue of the king- 
dom." Comment de stat, saith, " The clergy have near 
a fourth part of the lands of all the kingdom, besides 
the ofierlngs, churchings, burials, dirges, and such like 
casualties, which amount to as much as their rents, 
which comes to half the kingdom: upon which Ed- 
win Sandys computes their revenue at six millions 
sterling yearly." One kingdom hath thirteen arch- 
bishops, a hundred and four prelates, a thousand four 
hundred and fifty abbies, five hundred and forty arch- 
priories, twelve thousand three hundred and twenty 
priories, five hundred sixty seven Nunneries, seven 
hundred Convents of friars, and two hundred fifty nine 
Commanderies of Malta ; besides all the colleges of the 
Jesuits. The parish priests are one hundred and thir* 



S02 JBsuit 

ty thooMod of ft]l torti. The kingdom is supposed to 
have about fifteen millions of people; but the clergy 
and their ministers are judged to be ikree millions of 
them. This account is only for France. 

Are the tongues of those men fit to call us mercena- 
ries, or hirelings, or such as preach for filthy lucre! 
Was ever greater impudence manifested by the rilest 
son of Adam, than for such men that lord it over em* 
perors, kings and princes, and devour the«vealth of the 
Christian world, to call poor ministers of Christ, covet- 
ous, or hirelings, that are content with food and rai- 
ment, and a common education of their children ? If 
yVu had rather have the Popish priesthood, vith the 
numberless swarm of friars, you may take them, and 
say, you had your choice ! White's '* Orthodox faith, 
and way to the church explained and justified." 

fjCJ^ The great Abbey of St Alban's, if all the old lands were 
united together, is now worth, in all its. rents, profits, and reve- 
nues yearly about 200,000 pounds, one million of dollats. The 
Abbey of Glastonbury, 300,000 pounds : the Abbey of Augustin, 
at Canterbury, 200,000 poumls ; Edmondsbory; the same ; Romsey, 
300,000 pounds ; Crowland, 100,000 ; Leicester, 100,600 ; Evesham, 
100,000 , Tewksbury, 100,000 ; Abingdon and Reading, 300,000. 
If the revenues of all die Abbey lands should be account^ accord, 
ing to the true valuation of these times, it would be found to be so 
many millions as is incredible. Treasury of England, or account 
of all taxes ; London, 1725. The above is an account of only ten 
monasteries ; and one hundred and ten years agp ; their annual 
rent was computed at nine millions one hundred and twelve thou- 
sand dollars^ — and at the present valuation it may be reckoned 
twenty mi lions of dollars. The present interest of the national 
debt in Great Britain is far less than the actual robberies of the 
Popish jpriests and friars, and nuns, during the reign of Popery. 

The English Episcopal dioceses before uie Reformation were va- 
lued by Stevens, a Papi*t writer, at ttie yearly income of five 
hundred thousand dollars each, whith alone made about fifleen 
milUons of dollars. From the above facts, may be ascertained the 
enormous pillage of the Roman hierarchy when they ruled ; and 
also the undeniable cause of the ignorance, povertjr, immorality 
and debasement of Papists, in every generation, and in all parts of 
the world. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

JSMMSefieol Lawftd Ministry. 

Another of their designs is this : to persuade the 
world that they only have a true ministry or priest' 
hood, and an apostolical episcopacy and true ordina- 
tion : and that we and all other Protestant churches 
have no trt& ministers, but are mere laymen under 
the name of ministers, because we have no just ordina- 
4ion. How prove they all that ? They say, that they 
have a pope, that is a true successor of Peter : but we 
have no succession from the apostles, and therefore no 
just ordination, because no roan can give that power 
which he hath not : and that we are schismatics sepa- 
rated from the church, and therefore our ordinations 
are invalid : and that some of our churches have no 
bishops, and therefore say they, we have no true min- 
istry, nor are they true churches. 

1. ThoOgh we need not fetch our ordination from 
Rome, yet we may truly say, that if they have any 
true oroination and ministry, then so have we; for 
our first reformers were ordained by their prelates, 
which is enough to stop their mouths. If they say 
that our schism hath cut off our power of ordination, I 
answer, that though they are notorious schismatics, 
yet if we were what they falsely say we are, it would 
not annul our ordination. This is the judgment of 
their own writers* Thomas a Jesu Conversione gen- 
tium, lib. 6. cap. 9. afiirrms it to be one of the certain- 
ties agreed on ; " schismatics lose not, nor can lose 
any spiritual pow^ consisting in the spintual character 
of baptism, or prders For this is indelible, as Thom- 
as teacheib, Art. 3. and Turrecremata confirmeth, lib. 
4. sum. part. 1. c. 7 : and Silvester verb, schismatici : 
and it appeareth by Pope Urban's can. ordinationes, 9. 
q. 1 ; who jndgetk those to be truly ordained, that were 
ordained by schismatical bishops : and from Auatin lib. 
6. de Bapt. Cont. Donatist. cap. 6, where he saith **a se- 
paratist may deliver the sacrament as well as have it. He 
next a4d^, that yet such are deprived of the fccuki 




t04 JB8UIT 

of lawfully using the power which they have, so that it 
will he their sin to use it : and that thus those are to 
be understood that speak against the ordination, &c. of 
schismatics. It is unlawful, because their power is sus- 
pended by the church, but not a nullity, because they 
nave the power. He puts the question whether schis- 
roatical presbycers and bishops do want the power of 
order, or only want jurisdiction? and heanswerethout 
of Thorn. 22. q. 39. art. 3, "they want jurisdiction, and 
cannot absolve, excommunicate, or grant indulgences, 
and so they cannot elect and give benefices, and make 
laws. But yet they have the power of orders ; and 
therefore a schismatical bishop doth truly make and 
consecrate the Eucharist and truly ordain ; and when 
he electeth and promoteth any to ecclesiastical orders, 
they truly receive the character of order, but not the 
use, because they are suspended, if knowingly they are 
qrdained by a schismatical bishop. He next asketh, 
whether this punishment depriving them of jurisdic^tion 
take place with all schismatics? and answers, that some 
say before the council of Constance this punishment be- 
longed to all notorious schismatics, but not to the un* 
known ones : but since that council, it takes place only 
on those that are expressly and by name denounced, or 
manifest strikers of the clergy. But he himself, an- 
swers ; if a schismatic be tolerated, and by the com- 
mon error of the people be taken for lawful, there is no 
doubt but all his acts of jurisdiction are valid: which 
we shall affirm also of heretics. But if a presoyter or 
bishop be a manifest schismatic, then some say, that 
those acts that require jurisdiction are invalid, but oth- 
ers say, that they are all valid in case the schismatic be 
hot by name excommunicated, or a manifest striker of 
the Clergy." It is their own canons, that the Papists 
here plead when the council of Constance hatn so 
altered the business. 

2. Though this that is said is enough as to the Pa- 
pists, yet I add, that their suceession is interrupted, and 
thercrore they are the most unfit to be our judges. 
They have had long schisms, in which no man knew 
who was the right pon^ nor knowethtptbis day: and 
such long removes andvacaBciatt^aDdsucb ialerpotttions 



of various ways of choosing their pope, and interrup- 
tions by heretical popes, condemned oy c^eneral coun- 
cils ; besides murderers, adulterers, simonists, and such 
as their own writers, Genebrard, and others expressly 
say, were not apostolical, but apostatical: and popes 
who by general councils have been judgea or charged 
with heresy and infidelity, that there is nothing more 
certain than that their succession hath been interrupted. 

3. They cannot be certain but it is in every age inter- 
rupted, and that there is no true pope or bishops among 
them, because the intention of the ordainer or conse- 
crator is with them of necessity to the thing: and no 
man e^n be certain of the intention of the ordainers. 
Yet Beliarmin says, that though we cannot be sure 
that he is a true pope, bishop or prebyter that is ordain- 
ed, yet we are bound to obey him. Where then is the 
certainty of succession ? Bellarmin JustificaU Cap. 
8. stc. 5. 

4. What succession of episcopal consecration was 
there in the church of Alexandria, when Jerom Epist. 
ad Evagriunit tells us : *' At Alexandria, from Mark the 
evangelist even till Heraclius and Dionysius their bish- 
ops, the presbyters did always name one man that bish- 
op, whom they chose from among themselves, and 
placed in a higher degree : even as if an army make 
an emperor, or the deacons choose one of themselves, 
whom they know to be industrious and call him the 
chief deacon." Thus Jerome shews that bishops were 
thea made by presbyters. In the same epistle he 
proves from Scripture, that presbyters and bishops were 
one. Medina accusing Jerom of error, saith that Am- 
brose, Austin, Sedulius, Primasius, Chrysostom, Theo- 
doret, Oecumenius, and Theophylact were in the same 
heresy, as Bellarmin himself reporteth him. So that pres- 
byters now may make bishops as those of Alexandria 
did. Jerom there saith, "all are the succe&lhors of the 
apostles," yet apostles as apostles have no successors 
at all, as Bellarmin teacheth, lib. 4. de Pontif. cap. 25. 
^'Bishops do not properly succeed the apostles ; because 
the apostles were not ordinary, but extraordinary, and 
as it were delegated pastors, who have no successors. 
Bishops hive no part of the true apostolic authority. 

18 



r 



i06 iKBtnr 

Apostt^ could preacli in the whole world, and foand 
churches, but so cannot bishops. The apostles could 
write canonical books, but so cannot bishops. Apos- 
tles had the gifts of thje tongue and miracles, bat so 
have not bishops. The apostles had jurisdiction over 
the whole church, but so have not bishops. And there 
is no succession but to a predecessor : but apostles and ]l 
bishops were in the church both at once, as appeareth 
by Timothy, Titus, Evodins, and many more. If there- 
fore bishops succeed apostles, to what apostle did Titos i\ 
succeed/ and whom did Timothy succeed? Bishops li 
succeed apostles in the same manner as presbjters |i 
succeed the seventy-two disciples : but it is manifest Iji 
that presbyters do not properly succeed the seventy-two lii 
disciples, but only by similitude. Philip, Stephen and 
others that were of the seventy-two, had never been 
after ordained deacon<s, if they had been presbyters be- ii 
fore." ^ k 

Now what is become of the Popii^h apostolical sue- 
. cessors among their bishops ? The scope of all this 
is to prove, that all prelates receive their power from 
the pope ; and so their succession is confined to him 
alone : and therefore as oft as there have been inter- 
ruptions in the Papal succession, so often the succession 
of all their church was interrupted. |. 

But if bishops succeed not apostlt's, and have not f 
any of the apostolic power, who then doth the bishop of 
Rome succeed? Bellarmin, cap. 25, ssiiih ] "The pope 
of Rome properly succeedeth Peter, not as an apostle, 
but as an ordinary pastor of the whole church." Let 
us then have no more talk of the apostolic seat, or at 
least no more arguing from that name : for Peter was 
not the universal vicar as aa apostle, nor doth the 
people so succeed him. Doth not that give away the 
vicarship ? which way will they prove it ? 

But an objection falls in Beflarmin's way ; "if this 
be so, then none of the bishops of Afric, Asia, &c. were 
trde bishops, that were not made by the pope." To 
which he answers, that " it is enough that the pope do 
consecrate them mediately, by making patriarchs and 
archbishops to do it ; and so Peter did constitute the 
patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch : who thus re- 



eiving authority from the pope, did rule almost all 
JLi^ia and Afric.'.' But thut almoU marreth the whole 
Ause: for w^ere is the universal headship/ did Bel- 
urmia think that Alexandria and Antioch were made 
it first the seats of patriarchs^ having a large jurisdic- 
iQn as afterward thej attained ? How will he prove 
faat Peter made those two patriarchates, not as an 
ipostle, but as an ordinary vicar general? Who 
aade the patriarchate of Constantinople, and fi^ve it 
^t vast jurisdiction ? did Peter many hundred jrears 
ifter his death ? or did the Pope of Rome, that resisted 
and sought to diminish his power? or rather did not 
the general councils do it by the emperor's commands, 
the pope excepting and repining at it ? who made the 
patriarch of Jerusalem? who made James bishop of 
Jerusalem / Did Peter ? who made Timothy and Ti» 
tus bishops ? did Peter or Paul ? Who gave Paul that 
power? not Peter certainly. Do not those men jest 
with holy things ? or do they believe themselves ? Bel* 
larmia confesseth, that the potestas Ordinis, et interi- 
oris jtirisdictionis, power of order and interior jurisdic- 
tion, is immediate]^ from God to every bishop as to 
tbe pope, cap. 22. Why then should it be denied of 
the exterior jurisdiction ? Is one part of the essence of 
the office given by the pope, and the rest without him ? 
What if it be proved, tnat the exterior and the interioi' 
jurisdiction of a pastor are one ? though the obedience be 
exterior, yet the jurisdiction is exercised on the soul 
in one case as weU as another ; it being the mind 
on which the obligation lieth, and the pastoral rule is 
powerful and effectual, aud further than you procure 
consent you are despised. For it is the magistrate's 
work to use violence. Bishops as bishops, can but 
persuade and deal by words with the inner man. What 
then is become of the Papist succession ? 

5. He that is ordained according to the apostles* 
directions, or prescript in Scripture, hath the true apos- 
tolical ordination ; but so are we ordained. The apos- 
tles never confined ordination to those prelates that de- 
pend on the pope of Rome. The bishops to whom the 
apostles committed that power, are the same who are 
called presbyters bv them, and \hey were !he overseers 



2Cf8 iMBVii 

or pafitow each but of one single cliarch and not of 
many churches, in Scripture times, so Hammond 4tf* 
sorts. Such are those who ordain amons^ us now. 
Oregor. Nazianzen. orat 18, a»ith, "I would there was 
no presidency, nor prerogative of place and tyrannical 
privileges : that so we might be known only by virtue. 
But now tiiis right side, and left side, and middle and 
lower degree, and presiidency, and concomitancy, have 
begot us many contritions to no purpose, and have driv- 
en many into the ditch, and hare led them away to the 
region of the goats." 

. Isidore Pelusiai. lib, 3. Epist 223. ad Hieracem, 
saith: "When I have shewed, what difierence there is 
between the ancient ministry and the present tyranny, 
why do you not crown and praisethe lovers of equality.^' 
Refer to SeduliuM on Tiius 1. Anselm JEnarrat in 
Phil. i. 1. Beda on Acts 20. Alcuin Divinis Officiis ; 
Cap. 35, 36. and John Lib, 5. ; and Epist. 108. Anselm 
on 1 Timothy Vf, 14. Institut,in Concil Colon, deSacr. 
Ordin. Bucer Script Anglic. Peter Martyr, Loc. 
Com. Clas, 4. Loc, 1. sect, 23; and Wielifs argu- 
ments on the Waldenses. Cassander Consult, artic. 
14, saith; It is agreed among all, that of old in tb% 
apostle's days, there was no difference between bishops 
and presbyters, but afterwards for order's sake and the 
avoiaing of schism, the bishop was set before the pres- 
byters." Occam determineth, that "by Christ's insti- 
tution all the priests of what degree soeVer are of equal 
authority, power and jurisdiction." Reynold Peacock, 
wrote a book de ministrorum (Bqualitate, which your 
party caused to be burnt. Richard Armachan, lib. 9. 
tap 5, ad Quaesi. Armen, saith, "there is not found in 
the evangelical or apostolical Scriptures any difference 
between bishops ana simple priests, called presbyters ; 
whence it follows, that there is one power in all, and 
equal from their order." Cap, 7, answering the ques- 
tion, whether any priest may consecrate churches, &c. 
he saith, "priests may do it as well as bishoj>s, seeing 
a bishop hath no more in such matters than any sim* 
pie priest. It seems therefore that the restriction of 
the priest's power was nit in the primitive church ac- 
cording to the Scripture." 



& The cUef error of the Papists in this cause is ex- 
pressed in their reason, *'no man can give the power 
that Jie hath not :" wherein they intimate, that it is 
man that giyeth the ministerial power. Whereas it is 
the gift of Christ alone. Man doth but design the 
person that shall receire it, and then Christ giveth it, 
by his law, to the person so designed : and then mitn 
doth invest him, and solemnize his introduction. Asa 
woman may choose her husband, but it is not she that 
giTeth him the power over her, but God who deter- 
mineth of that power by his law ; affixing it to the per- 
son chosen by her, and her action is but a condition, 
or cause of that capacity of the matter to receive the 
form. .Men do but obey God in a right choice and des- 
ignation of ihe person : his law doth presently give 
him the power, with which for order's sake he must be 
in solemn manner invested. But matters of order may 
possibly vary ; and though they are to be observed as 
far as may he, yet they always give place to the ends 
and suhstance of the work for ordering whereof they 
are appointed. 

7. Ten^ral power is truly and necessarily of God, 
as ecclesiastical, and it was at first given immediately 
by him, and he chose the person : and yet there is no 
necessity that kings must prove an uninterrupted succes- 
sion. God useth means now in designing the persons 
that shall be governors of the nations of the earth. But 
not always the same means. Nor hath he tied himself 
to a succesive anointing or election: else few kings on 
earth would hold their sceptres. And no man from 
any diversity in the cases is able to prove, that a man 
may not as truly be a lawful church-governor, as a law- 
ful governor of the commonwealth, without an uninter- 
I ranted succession of ministerial collation. 
/ bellarmin is forced to maintain, that with them it is 
enough that a pastor have the place, and seem lawful 
to the people, and that they are bound to obey him, 
though it should prove otherwise. 

Our ordination therefore being according to the law 
of Christ, and the pope's so contrary to it : we are 
ready at any tipie, more fully to compare them, and 
demonstrate to any impartial man, ^hat Christ doth 

18* 



i 



much more disown their ordiDfttien than ours ; tnd 
that we enter in God's appointed way. Mr. Elliot in 
New England may better ordain a pastor over the In- 
dians converted by him, than leave them without or 
send to Rome^ for a bishop or for orders. Voetius it 
desperata eausa papaiui. Mason upon English ordi* 
nation. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

PopUh Simeltly. 

Another of their deceits is this : they pretend the 
holiness of their churches and ministry, and theitnho' 
liness of ours. This being matter of fact, a willing 
and impartial mind may the easier be satisfied. They 
assert their holiness, by the canonized saints among 
them : by the devotion of their religious orders, and 
their strictness of living : by their unmarried clergy : 
and by their sanctifying sacraments and ceremonies. 
In all which they say that we are so far wanting, that 
being out of the church, there is no true holiness among 
us. 

I had never the happiness to be acquainted with any 
Papist of a serious spiritual temper, and holy life, hut 
only some of a ceremonious formal kind of religion, 
and but with very few that lived not in gross sin. Pa- 
pists make it an article of their faith, and an essential 
point of Popery, that no one Protestant hath charity, or 
can be saved ; and that no Christian in the world is 
sanctified really, and can be saved but a Papist They 
necessitate us to mention their ungodliness by so cal- 
ling us to it, and laying the stress of all our cause upon 
the point : and laying the very christian feith itself 
upon the holiness of their church. For we must not 
know that Scripture is God's word,^or that Christianity 
is the true religion, till we first know that the church 
of Rome is the true church, that we may receive it on 
their credit : and we must know that they are the true 
church by Being the only holy people in the world. If 



JV«OUNO. 31 1 

tny faith lay on this foundation, 1 know so much of tbo 
falsehood of it, that I must tnrn infidel : and I can no 
)nore helieve this than I can believe that snow is not 
white. 

They confess that their common people afe bad ; but 
yet they say, Vthere are same good ones among us, but 
among the heretics not one is good/' Thomas a Jesu 
de convers, omn, Gent, p, 531. TtiberviUe Manual 
p. 84. saith, but "I never yet heard of any Protestant 
saints in the world.'' O wonderful perversness of the 
hearts of sectaries! O wonderful patience of God! Did 
not that man's heart tremble or smite him to write so 
horrid, so impudent a reproach against so many precious 
saints of God ? Durst he thus attempt to rob the Lord 
of the fruit of his blood 1 and to villify his jewels 1 and 
as Rabshakeh, to reproach the Israel of God / to at* 
tempt to pluck them out of Christ's hand that are given 
him by his Father ; and to shut them out of heaven, that 
are redeemed and made heirs by so dear a price ; and 
to spit in their faces whom Christ hath washed with his 
blood ? did he not fear that dreadful threatening of 
Christ, Mat. 18. 6, ''But who shall offend one of these 
little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that 
a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he 
were drowned in the depth of the sea." Though I see 
so much impiety among the Papists, I dare not say, I 
dare not think, that Ood hath not some holy one among 
them. It is dangerous to condemn those that Chsist 
will justify, and make his members to be the members 
of the devil, and abusing so grossly the apple of his eye. 
If I see a man live wickedly, I dare say he is of a wick- 
ed life^-but I dare not say that all are so, unless it be 
among men, whose principles I am sure are inconsistent 
with godliness, and I know that they hold those princi- 
ples practically or prevalently. I have been acquainted 
with some Papists, learned and unlearned. Few of the 
unlearned know what Christianity is, nor whether 
Christ were Ood or man, male or female, nor whether 
ever he was the kine, prophet or priest of the church, 
nor for what end he died, nor what faith or repentance is ; 
but were infideb under the name of Papists or catholics. 
Nearly all the learned atd unlearned live in gross 




.212 JtiviT 

sin, the better sort would orduMurily swear by their 
lady, and by the %iass, and some greater oaths. The 
rest were* fornicators or adulterers, drunkards or 
revellers and gamesters. Never had I the happiness to 
be acquainted with one that cbuU speak experimentally 
of the work of grace upon his soul, of the life of faith, 
of communion with God, and of the life to come. Their 
religion lay in being the Pope's subjects, and in fosting 
on Fridays and in Lent from aome sorts of meat, and ia 
saying over so many Ave Maries^ Pater NosUrs^ or the 
like ; and in observing days, and hours, and ceremonies. 

But if those men uiat never heard of a Protestant 
saint, and conclude there is no one saved but a Papist ; 
and build their salvation on this as an article of their 
faith, had known but those that I have ^nown, and yet 
know ; they would either have been of another mind,, or 
have been left inexcusable in a malicious reproaching of 
the saints of the most high. I bless the Lord that I can 
truly say, that I know many, as far as the heart of another 
can be known, by words and a holy life, who live in 
much communion with Ood : whose souls are daily long- 
ing after him, and some of them spending much pf their 
lives upon their knees, having had many a special ex- 
traordinary return to their importunate requests : whose 
delight is lo the law of the Lord, in which they meditate 
day and night, which is locked up among the Papists : 
whose hearts smite them for vain words or thoughts, or 
the loss of time : that live in exemplary humility, meek- 
ness and selfdenial, bearing wrongs patiently, and doing 
good to as many as they can, as the servants of all, con- 
temning the riches and honors of the world, mortifying 
the flesh, and some of them longing to be dissolved and 
to be with Christ : in whom the world never knew either 
once drunkenness, fornication, or one rash oath, or any 
other gross sin. And is it certain that all those shall be 
damned, because they believe not in the pope \ or is it 
not certain by promise that all sxkih shall be saved? 

When Papists lay their faith and cause on this, that 
their church is holy, and ours and all others are every 
Qian- unholy, it is almost to me as if they said that no 
men but Papists have soub in their bodies, and l^id their 
faith on this ; and as soon should I believe themt if this 



JVOdUNo. 213 

were their belief. It is a good preservative against po- 
pery, when a man cnnnot turn Papist without putting 
oat his eyes, and renouncing bis wit, and reason, and 
common experience, as well as his charity ; and without 
denying^ wtebt he knoweth by his own soul ! 

1. But let us come to their evidences. They say, we 
have no canonized saints. I answer all the apostles and 
saints of the first ages were of our religion ; and many 
of them have been beholden to the pope for canonizing 
them. 

We have no usurper among us that pretendeth infal- 
libly to know the hearts of others, nor to number God's 
saints. But with us the Holy Ghost maketh saints, and 
their lives declare it ; and those that converse with them 
discern it, so far as to be highly confident ; and men 
discern it themselves, so far as to be infallibly, though 
not perfectly, certain. 

The pope takes saints to be rare with them, that they 
must be named and written with red letters in an alma- 
nack. JhdfervUle Manual p. 85, sends us for proof to 
their chronicles and martyrologies, and he nameth four 
saints that they have had, Austin the Monk, Benedict, 
Dominick, and Francis. Now we all know that none 
but saints are saved, and without holiness none can see 
God; Heb. 12. 14. So that it seems if sanctity be so 
rare ainong the Papists, salvation must be rare. 

But as for us, we make it our care to admit none but 
saints to our church communion, though we preach to 
others to prepare them foi: it : for we believe that the 
church is a holy society, and find Paul calling the whole 
churches that he writes to by the title of saints, and we be- 
lieve it is the communion of saints that is there to bo 
h^d. And if we had no more saints in one county at 
once, yea in one parish at once, than would fill up the 
pope's calander, so as to have one for every day in the 
year, we should betake, ourselves to bitter lamentation. 
Whereas the church of Rome takes in all sorts of the 
unclean, and is so impure and polluted a society, that it 
is a wonder how they should have the face to boast of 
their holiness, to. men who live among them and know 
them. Thousands of their members are stark inf ' ' 
not knowing the essentials of the Christian 




914 JStVIT 

Ireland many of them know not who Christ wai, bat 
that he was a better man than Patridu Usher saw 
and lamented, that they perished as heathens for want 
of knowing Christianity itself, while they went under 
the name of catholics : and therefore, he would have per* 
suaded the popish priests to have consented that they 
should be all taught a catechism of the common princi- 
ples that we are agreed in ; but he could not procure it. 
White asked one of them in Lancashire, who Jesus 
Christ wast she answered, that it was some good 
thing, or else it would not have been put into the creed. 
WhU€*s Keif to the Chmk. 

How much swearing, whoredom, drunkenness, and 
other wickedness are in their church is known not pnly 
by the complaints of their own writers, l^ut by the com- 
mon experience of trarelers. We have known Papists 
who have turned from them by the experience of one 
journey to Rome, and seeing what is there. As for 
church censures by which any of those evils should be 
purged out, they are laid by* and reserved lor other 
uses ; even as thunder-bolts for the pope^s adversaries, 
and the servants of Christ whom they, take for heretics, 
and for princes whom the pope would have deposed and 
murdered. The lives of many kings and princes have 
been the sacrifice of the Roman ungodliness. 

What need you any further proof, that their church is 
a common wilderness, and not the garden of Christ, and 
is a cage of all unclean birds, than that they actually 
keep them all in their communion. It made my heart 
rise at their hypocrisy and filthiness, to read one sen- 
tence in one of the most learned, ,and sober, and honest 
of all their prelates that have written. Albaspiiui^s 
Observat. ** If ever any one nian^in this age was put 
from the communion, which I know not whether such a 
thing hath come to pass, it was only from the receiving 
the Eucharist; in the other parts of his life,, he retained 
the same familiarity and converse with other believers, 
which he had before his excommunication.'^ Thus a pre- 
late of France knew not any one person in the age that 
he lived in, who was ever excommunicpited for uhgodli* 
ness. Let the Christian worid then observe by their 
prtcticOf whi^ ^ ahpiiMO^ble h^rpocriticfil ^opDost tbe^ 



JVOOLllXG. 215 

make, to prdve the power of church-government to be 
only in their pope, and the prelates to whom he |;iYeth 
it ; and when they have done, do make so little use of 
the power which they so pretend to, as not to exercise 
lhe censures of the church upon any one oflfender. How 
were that man worthy to be thought of, or used, that 
would set all the world on fire by contending, that no 
schoolmaster or physician should be suffered in the whole 
world, but himself and such as he giveth power to : and 
when he hath done, will not by himself or his subjects 
and dependents teach or heal one person in an age ? 
Were such an one meet to live on the earth ? Or should 
we judge that man in his wits that would believe him ? 
O what a sty is the Roman society ! What corruption 
in ^eir assemblies ! And yet the shovel or the besom 
must not be used once in an age 1 no weed pulled up ? 
no superfluous branch cut off? Is this the use of all the 
canons of their church concerning excommunication. 
Must the Christian world be at such vast expense, to 
maintain so rich and numerous a clergy for this ? Must 
we cast out our pastors to receive such as these? When 
we should be ashamed, if we had not exercised more of 
the cleansing power in one church, than Albaspinaus 
knew among the Papists in a whole age. — Albaspin. 
VeL Eech^. Ritib. ObservaU 

But perhaps you think there is little of this filth among 
them to be ci^ out. He that readeth their writers, or 
liveth among them, and seeth their lives, will not so think. 
He that had se^n the murders of their popes for the ob- 
taining of the popedom, or how Pope Stephen raged 
against the carcass of Pope Formosus, drawing it out of 
thM9 grave, and changing its pontifical habit to a secular, 
and cutting off his fingers ; or he that had seen Pope Chris- 
topher casting the corpse of Pope Leo V. into the river 
Tiber; or Pope Sergius keeping the said Chpstopher 
bound in prison ; or Pope Boniface YII. putting out his 
cardinals* eyes, would scarce believe that the seat of 
Peter were holy : all which Platina and others of their 
own writers notice. Baronius himself tells us an. 897. 
** Pope Stephen VII. defiled Peter's seat with unheard 
of sacrilege, not to be named ; and the princes of Tus- 
cany were brought into Peter^s chaur and Christ's throne. 



A 



, k 



216 JKBVtT 

being monstrous men, of most filthy lives and desperate 
manners, and every way most filthy. An. 900. Ugly 
monsters were thrust into the Papacy ; so that it was de- 
filed with filthiness, and followed by those with a perpet- 
ual infamy. An, 912. At Rome, the most powerful and 
the most sordid whores did rule ; at whose will the seats 
were changed, prelates were made, and, which is horrid 
to be heard, and not to be spoken, their sweet-hearts 
.false popes were thrust into Peter's seat." " For one 
hundred and fifty years the Popes were whoUy fallen 
from the virtue of their predecessors, being disorderly, 
and apostatical, rather than apostolical, not entering by 
the door, but by the back door:" saith Genehrari Chron. 
Lib. 4. an. 901. He that shall read those writers impar- 
tially, will scarce think the head of their church hath 
been holy, which is an essential part of it ; nor that 
their succession is interrupted. 

Read Nic. Clemangis. Alvarus Pelagius de planciu 
EccltsitBy lib. 2. art. 2., and many such like ; and their 
poets Mantuan, Dante, ^., or Petrarch, Mirandula, 
&c., and you will think the holiness of Rome the poorest 
proof in the world of their being the only church. 
Browne* s Fasciculus Rerum Expetetid. et Fugiend. 

Espencaeus and others recite that distich : 
*' Vivere qui cupitis sancte^ discedite Rama : 
Omnia cum liceant^ non licet esse bonum.^^ 

" If you desire to live holy, fly from Rome. All 
things there are lawful, except to be good." Baptist 
Mantuan. Voetii Causa desperata Papatus. 

Platina saith. Vita Marcellini ; ^' Our vices are so in- 
creased, that they have scarce left us any place for mer- 
cy with God. How great is the covetousnessof the priests 1 
especially of those that rule aU! how great lust! how 
great ambition and pomp ! how great ignorance of them- 
selves, and of the Christian doctrine ! how little religion, 
and that rather counterfeit, than true ! how corrupt man- 
ners ! even such as in the profanest secular mea are to 
be detested ! it is not worth the speaking ; wlien they 
sin so openly and so publicly, as if they sought praise 
by it." 

Claude 1, Espencaeus on Titus, saith ; ** Where is 
there under the sun a greater liberty, clamor^ impunity 



ii 



ii 

I 



' 



JVOOLINO. 217 

of all evil, infamy and impudence, than at Rome : verily 
it b such as ho man can believe but he that hath seen it, 
and no man can deny it that hath seen it." This was 
written since the council of Trent. In the council of 
Trent, a Popish Prelate Cornelius Muss, and the won* 
der of his age among the Papists, saith '* there is no 
monstrous filthiness, or sink or plague of uncleanness, 
with which both people and priest are not defiled. In 
the very sanctuary of God, there is no shame, no modes- 
ty, no hope or regard of good living : but unbridled and 
untamed lust, singular audaciousness, incredible wicked- 
ness. Would they had not faUen from religion to super- 
stition, from faith to infidelity, from Christ to antichrist, 
yea as men that had no souls from. God to Epicurus, or 
Pythagoras, saying in an impious heart, and an impudent 
mouth, there is no God. And yet now of a long time, there 
hath been no pastor that would require, or seek them again; 
because they all sought their own things, but not one 
the things of Jesus Christ." Muss after the council wrote 
thus ; 8erm. 2. '^ I'he Roman name is hateful with all na- 
tions ; and see, how little esteem the church itself is of, be- 
cause of the scandals that are heard, seen and felt. I 
speak not now of enemies, that call it the whore of Ba- 
bylon, hell, and the sink of all errors : but I speak of 
friends, that groan and daily sigh within themselves, say- 
ing, O holy cit}', how art thou thus profaned ! O glorious 
city ! that are thus become vile, thus condemned and ne- 
glected." Rivet . Whitens Way to ike true Church. 

Guicciardm their historian saith ; " Those are called 
good popes, whose goodness is not worse than other 
men's wickedness." 

Claud. Espencmus on Titus 1. complains, that the 
promises' made by the pope, of reformation at the coun-^ 
cil of Trent, were all broken, and nothing done but de- 
ceit and shows. Of Pope Sixtus Y. Bellarmin gave his 
judgment, that he thought, when he died he went to the 
devil, saying, '*he that lives without repentance, and 
dieth without repentance, undoubtedly goeth to hell. " 
Bellarmin also said, '* as far as I can reach, as far as I 
have any wisdom, as far as I understand, in plain terms, 
our Loild the pope is gone to hell. " Barthoh Marisot. 
life of Henry Uie great of France, cap. 17. saith; 

19 



• 

'* When the Spaniards perceived his contrivances to for- 
sake their party, lest he should join with the enemy, they 
caused him to be strangled in the night by a Franciscan, 
or one in a monk^s habit, and the neit day gave out that 
a domestic devil had strangled him ; and to make good 
the report a book was written of his life and printed, 
where all the wickedness of Pope Alexander VI. is 
charged on him. *' How the popes are still chosen by 
impious jugglings and combinations, cardinal Perron, 
tells in his Legationes et Negotiat. Cardinal Oss^tus 
Epistl 87. said Concerning pope Clement VIII. esteem- 
ed one of the Very best of them ; who persuaded the 
King of France to join with the Spaniards in the inva- 
sion of England ; and when the cardinal answered that 
the King of France was under an oath of peace with 
the Queen of England ; their best pope replied, ** the 
oath was made to a heretic, but he is bound by anoth- 
er oath to God and the pope. Kings and other sover- 
eign princes tolerate themselves in all things that make 
for their commodity, and it is now come to pass that it is 
not imputed to them, nor. taken to be their fault.'* He 
alleged the saying of Francisc. Marise Duke of Urbin, 
" a noble man or great man that is not the sovereign, is 
blamed and counted infamous of all men, if he keep not 
his faith ; but supreme princes may make covenants, 
and break them again without any danger to their credit, 
and may lie, betray, and commit such like practices.^' 
Those are the best popes, that can forgive other men's 
sins and pardon them the pains of purgatory, and can- 
not save their own souls from hell ! Can they not gov- 
ern the universal church well, that can no better govern 
themselves, or that one city where tbey dwell ? are not 
those men worthy to be consulted as infallible oracles, 
by those that dwell at the antipodes, though it cost them 
their lives to sail or travel to them ? can be be a Chris* 
tian or be saved that believeth in one of those men 1 or 
can any man receive the Chrbtian faith or Scriptures, 
till he first know those wicked men to be Christ's infallible 
vicars ? 

How many thousands of prostitutes are licensed in 
Rome ; how sumptuously they live, and what revenues 
the popes derive from their fornication many Papist 



JtJOOLINO. 219 

authors mention. Some of them defend it ; and even 
the present pope maintains it. However the Jesuit 
Mariana, although he justified the murder of kings ; jRc- 
gis et Regis instutionej lib. 1. cdp. 6 ; disallows that 
uncleanness, Speciaculis^ cap. 16. Claude Espencaus^ 
Continentia^ Jt6. 3. cap. 4. laments that **a11 Rome is 
tamed into one vast hrothel." ** The Jews, says that 
Roman priest, so far shame you, that none of their 
daughters may become a harlot, unless they first turn 
Papists, and then they can obtain the license to live in 
lewdness,'* for the stipulated price. 

Of the gain that comes to the pope and prelates by 
the simoniacal market of benefices, read Clemangis 
Tract, de atmatibus non sohoendis. Alvar. -Pelag. planc^ 
tuEcctes. lib. 2. art. 15; and I. 1. art. 67. Claude Es^ 
penc. Tit. 1. Cardinal Cusanus Concord, cathol. lib, 
2. cap» 40. Marc. Ant. Repub. Eccles. lib. 9. c. 9. Bu' 
doeus lib^ 5. de Asse ; Duarenus Sacris Eccles. Minist, 
lib» 5. c 8. 

The odious ,8in of sodomy was common with many 
of the clergy and popes themselves ; gluttony, drunken- 
ness and whoredom being the common smaller sins. 

Papirius Massonius who wrote the deeds of the popes 
for their honor and sought his reward from Sixtus V. 
saith ; Episcop. urb. lib. 6. " No man doth now look 
for holiness in popes : those are judged the best, that 
are a little good or less wicked than other mortals used 
to be.'' 

Pius II. was one of the best that the Papal seat k long 
time had ; and yet in his epistle to his father ; Epist. 
15. who was angry witb hira for fornication, he 
saith ; " you say you are sorry for my crime. 
I know not what opinion you have of me. You 
know what you were yourself. Nor am I an hypocrite, 
that I should desire rather to seem good, t]}an to be 
good. It is an ancient and usual sin. I know not who 
is without it. This plague is spread far and near; 
though I see it not, seeing nature, which doth nothing 
amiss, hath bred this appetite in all living creatures, that 
mankind should be continued. " He who was the glory 
of the Papacy, knew none of all the Hierarchy without 
beastly sin. 

Orichovius informs Pope Julius III. that Pope Paul 



n. hs predeccMor had a daa^bler m the ejes of all 



or Pope Jidius ID. (hmpknm nidi, '^brng a car- 
dinal he followed ToloptiKMBiieB as bj sttfallti, bat being 
made pope, and baTug wbat be wwdd baTe, be cast 
away all care, and gaire ap biaaelf to bis mirdi and 
disposition. " TboamB also declares ; iiist. lih. 6, '' be 
was Tery infamous as a cardinal, bat afterwards past 
bis life in greater infamj.** 

Alvarus PeUigiMs^ lib, 2. mrL 73. lamenting whore- 
dom as a common sin, bat specially of tbe clergy, telk 
OS that tbe cause is, *^ because tbe rd^ioos of that age 
were gluttons or belly-gods, arrogant, proud, incompar- 
ably beyond secular men, conTersii^ witb women, &c. 
And drink more wine in their rel%ioas state than before, 
and are commonly camaL That the monks bad their 
female devotees, with whom, by the prelate's license, 
tbey conversed. Being sent to preach they go to lewd- 
ness. That there was scarcely any of the nuns with- 
out her carnal male votary, by wfaich they broke their 
faith with Christ." That was the holy Papacy. 

In hook 2. art. 28, he says, ** Most ii the clergy mix 
themselves with gluttony, drunkenness and whoredoiVt 
which is their common vice, and most of them give 
themselves to the unnatural vice. Thus continually, 
yea and {iublicly, do they oflend against that chastity 
which they promised to the Lord : besides those evils 
not to be named which in secret they commit, which 
papers will not receive, nor pen can write." Abundance 
more he hath of the same sybject, and their putting their 
choicest youth into houses of sodomy. That book of 
Alvarus PelagiuSj Bellarmin calls Liber insignis ; d& 
Scriptor, JEccUsiasL 

Matth, PariSy p. 819, tells us of cardinal Hugo's 
farewell l^eech to the people of Lyons when he departed 
with the pope's court ; ** Friends, said he, since we came 
to this city we have brought you great commodity and 
alms. When we came hither we found three or four 
brothels, but now at our departure we leave but one, 
but that one reacheth from the east gate to the west 
gate. ** O holy pope ! and holy church ! 

Costenis the Jesuit easily answers all that is said, £n- 



<l VttOJUlAW* 



221 



chirid, cap, 2. de Eccles, '^The church loseth not the 
naftie Holy, as long as there is but one who is truly holy/* 
Is thb your sanctity 1 If the head be unholy^an essen- 
tial part is unholy; and therefore the church cannot be 
holy. One person is not the matter of the church, as one 
drop of wine csist into the sea doth not make it a sea of 
wine ; one Italian in England makes not England Ital- 
ian ; nor does one learned man make England learned. 
Let the Papists observe, that it is from the very 
words of their own authors, that I have spoken of them 
what is here recited, and not from their adversaries. 
And therefore t am so far from believing the Gospel 
upon the account that their church is holy that recom- 
mendet^ it, or from believing them to be the only 
church of Christ because of their holiness, that I must 
bless God that I live in a sweeter air and cleaner society, 
and should be loth to come out of the garden to go into 
their sink to be made clean or sweet. The traveller 
learned more wit, who left us his resolution ; — 

^'Rom. a vale; vidi; satis est vidisse; revartar 
Cumleno out meretrix, seurra^ cincedus ero,''^ 

"Rome! Farewell; enough! Ihave seen thee. I will 
return to thee when I am a villain and a beast ! " . 

2. The second proof which they bring of the holiness 
of their church, is, the strict life of their friars, as 
Carthusians, Franciscans, and others. Travellers tell 
lamentable stories of friars ; and Gziil, de Amore, and 
his companions have said much more, and many other 
Popish writers paint them in an odious gark 

This also shows the pollution of your church in 
comparison to our churches, that holiness and religion 
are such rarities and next to miracles among you, that 
ft must be cloistered up, or confined to certain orders 
that are properly called religious, as if the people had 
no religion oi^ holiness. When our care and hope is to 
make all our parishes far more religious and holy than 
your monasteries or convents. 

3. Their third proof of the holiness of the Papists is 
derived from their unmarried priests. Because the es- 
sential parts of your church nearest concern your cause, 
I ask — ^Was it not Pope John XI. who had Theodora for 

19» 



322 iMnWt 

his mistress? Was it not Pope Sergius III. who was the 
father of Pope John XII. by Mairosia? Did not Jqbn 
XII. or XIII., according to Luitprand and other Po- 
pish writers defile virgins ; and married women even at 
the doors of his palace, and was finally killed by a hus- 
band who caught him in adultery] Did not a Papist 
write the following distich of Pope Innocent 1 

^*'Octo Nocens pueros genuit totidemque puellas, 
Hunc merito poiuit dicere Rome patrem ! '' 

'* That sinner had eight sons and eight daughters. 
Rightly did Rome cdX\ him their JPafAcr/" 

Whose son was Aloisus, made Prince of Parma by 
Pope Paul III. % For your archbishops, prelates, priests 
^c. I shall add but the words of Dominicus Soto dt 
Instit, et Jure qu, 6. art, 1. "We do not deny that the . 
clergy keep concubines, aiid are adulterers." 

Paul directed Timothy and Titus to ordain a bishop 
that was the husband of one wife, and ruled well his 
house, having his children in' subjection. The church 
long held to that doctrine. Greg. Nyssen was a married 
bishop. But if you are wiser than the Spirit of God, 
or can change his laws, or can prove the Holy Ghost so im- 
mutable as to give one law by Paul and other apostles, 
and another by the pope, we will believe you and for- 
sake the Scripture, when you can bewitch and charm 
us to it. 

We believe that a single life may be of convenience 
to a pastor, when it can be held ; but that Christ's rule 
must be observed, " every man cannot receive this say- 
ing, but he that can, let him receive it ; '* but we do not 
teach, as the Jesuits do, that a man may lawfully go 
into a brothel, though he hath found by experience he 
is overcome. 

Lest the vices of your priests should be laid open 
and punished, you exempt them from the secular power, 
and will not have a magistrate question them for any 
crimes. It is one of Pope Nicholas' decrees, Caranza, 
p. 395 ; ** No layman must judge a priest, nor examine 
any thing of his life. And no secular prince ought to 
judge the facts of any prelates or priests whatsoever." 
That is the way to be wicked quietly, and sin without 
noise and infamy. 



$vooLiJHo. 223 

Those -among us who are known to be ungodly and 
scandalous, are not owned by us, nor are members of 
our church, or admitted to the Lord's Supper in those 
congregations that exercise church discipline ; but they 
are only as catechumens, whom we preach to and in- 
struct, if not cast out. _ . 

Your eighth general council at Constantinople, Can. 
14. decreed, " ministers must not fall down to princes, 
nor eat at their tables, nor debase themselves to them ; 
but emperors must take them as equals. " But we are 
so far from establishing pride and arrogancy by a law, 
that though we hate servile flattery and man pleasing, 
yet we think it onr duty to be the servants of all, and 
to condesce^nd to men of low estate, and much more to 
honor our superiors and God in them. 

The same council decreed, Canon. 21, '* None must 
compose any accusations against the pope." No mar- 
vel then. if all popes go for innocents. 

Because you charge our churches with unholiness, and 
that with such an height of impudence, as I am certain 
the devil himself dolh not believe you, even that there 
is not one good among us, nor one that hath charity, nor 
can be saved, unless by turning Papist ; I tell you, that 
I doubt not but the churches in England, are purer far 
than those were in the days of Augustin, Jerom, &c., 
and that the pastors of our churches are less- scandalous 
than they were then. What if I should compare many 
of them to Augustin, Jerom, and such others, both in 
doctrine and holiness of life? Should 1 do so, I know 
you would account it arrogance. But yet I will pre- 
sume to make some comparison. 

As for the heavenliness of their writings, let some of 
ours be compared with them, and you will see at least 
that they spake, by the same spirit. For their commen- 
taries on Scripture, did we miss it as oft as Ambrose, 
Jerom, and many more, vye should bring ourselves very 
low in the esteem of the church. Even cardinal Cajetan 
doth boldly censure the fathers' commentaries. 

As to our lives, I have no pleasure in opening any of 
the fauhs of his saints, nor shall I mention any, but what 
are confessed by themselves, and to boast of our own 
purity I take to be a detestable thing, and contrary to 



2^4 jBBvrr 

that sense of sio that is in every Swaat of God : bat yet if 
the Lord's churches and servants are slandered and re- 
proached, as they were by the heathens ol old, the vin- 
dicating them is a duty which we owe to Christ, and you 
are the cause of the inconveniences. 

Those ministers that I converse with, are partly mar- 
ried and partly unmarried. The married live soberly, 
in conjugal chastity, as burning and shining lights before 
the people, in exemplary holiness of life. The unmar- 
ried also give up themselves to the Lord and to his ser- 
vice. And for the people of our communion, through 
tlie mercy of God, open sins are so rare, that if one in a 
church be guilty once, we all lament it, and bring them 
to penitence, or disown them, and they are the pity of all 
the congregation. 

Were the churches better in the third, fourth, fifth, 
sixth, or following ages ? No. That is proved by the sad 
histories of the crimes of those times, and by the lamen- 
table complaints of Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and 
Gregory Nyssen, and Chrysostom, Austin, &^. What 
complaints are made by Gildas of the British Church / 
What a doleful description have we of the Christian 
pastors and people in his days from Salvian de Guber- 
nat. 1 

I judge also by the canons, and by the fathers' direc- 
tions concerning oflfenders. Thus Gregory saith of 
drunkards ; Quod cum venia sus ingenio sunt relin- 
quendi, nc deteriores fiant^ si a tali consuetudine evel- 
lantur. Was this the Roman sanctity even tbeii ? Was 
that Saint Gregory*s sanctity, that drunkards must be 
let alone with pardon, lest if they be forced from their 
custom they be made worse 1 If such advice were but 
given by one of us, it would cast us out of our ministry. 
We dare not let one drunkard alone in our church com- 
munion, where church discipline is set up. 

Augustin saith ; " Drunkenness is a mortal sin, if it 
be daUy or usual. And that they must be dealt with 
gently and by fair words, and not roughly and sharply." 
If one of us should make so light of drunkenness, what 
should we be thought 1 Aquinas 22. y. 150. art. 1. 4 ; 
art. 2. 1. 

Manv canons determine, "Priests that will not part 



juooLiNo. 225 

with their eoncubinesy shall be suspended from officia- 
ting^ till they let them go.'* Whereas with us, a man is 
ejected who should have a concubine but oncel 

Gratian Distinct. 34, citeth c. 17, of the Toletan coun- 
cil, saying, '^ He that hath not a wife« but a concubine 
in her stead, shall not be put from the cohimnnion.** The 
whole canon is thus ;" If any believer have a wife and 
a concubine, let him not communicate. But he that 
hath no wife, and hath a concubine instead of a wife, may 
not be put from the communion. Only let him be con- 
tent with One woman, either wife or concubine, which he 
will. He that liveth otherwise, let him be cast off, till 
he give over, and return t6 penitence." 

In an English council at Berghamsted an. 697, the se- 
venth canon is this; "If a priest leave his adultery, and 
do not naughtily defer baptism, nor is given to drunken- 
ness, let him keep his ministry, and the privilege of his 
habit." Spelman. King Alured in the preface to his 
laws tells us ; " except treason and desertion of their 
Lords, the councils of the clergy did lay but some pecu- 
niary mulct on other sins." Spelman. Johnson's Laws 
and canons. ^ 

All this shows that the church then was much more 
corrupt than ours now in £ngland. 

The best of the fathers had such blots, that I may well 
make their confessions another discovery that our 
churches are as pure and holy as theirs. Augustin, 
whilst he leaned to the Manichees. confesseth himself 
guilty of fornication. Jerom that was so vehement for 
virginity and lived a monastic life, doth yet confess that 
he was not a virgin. Bernard, who lived so contem- 
plative a life, in his Serm. de heata virgine de Assumpt. 
confesseth se car ere virginitateJ 

When we tell the Papists of their licensing brothels 
at Rome, Bononia, &c., they fly to the words of Austin 
lib, de ordine ; ^^ Take away harlots from among men, 
and you will disturb all things with lusts." Though this 
was written when Austin'was but a young convert, and 
he afterwards changed his mind ; yet it shows that our 
times are far from the abominations of those, and our pas- 
tors are far more strict than Austin was. 

As for the holiness of their church by ceremonies, as 



226 JB8VIT 

holy water, holy oil, relics, altars and a hundred such 
things, it is not worthy of notice. All things are sanc- 
tified to us by the word and prayer. We devote our- 
selres and all that we have to God, and then to the pwre 
aU things are pure. We neglect no ordinance of God 
that we can know of and enjoy. He is a ^irit, and 
seeketh such as will worship him in '^irit and truth. 
This is the holiness that we look after* But for num- 
hering beads, and AveMaries^ and going on pilgrimages, 
and such inventions of arrogant men, we place no holi- 
ness in them ; as knowing that God desireth not a mimi- 
cal or histrionical worship ; and that none knows what 
will please him so well as himself. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

J^ToveUy of Popish Corruptions. 

Another of their deceits is, btf calling us to teU 
them when every one of their errors did first begin^ and 
what pope did bring them in ; or else they will not 
believe but they are from the Apostles, 

1. It belongs to you to prove the continuance of your 
opinions or practices, more than to us to prgve the be- 
ginning. It sufficeth that we prove that there was a 
time when your errors were not in the church, and that 
we can do from the Scriptures and the Fathers. You 
know yourselves of abundance of changes which you 
know not who did first introduce. Who first adminis- 
tered the Lord's Supper in one kind only 1 that was not 
from the beginning 1 Who first laid by the standing on 
the Lord's day, and used kneeling ? Can, 20, Council 
Nicen. 1. Alvarus Pelagius de planet. Eccles. lu 2. art, 
2. saith ; *' The church bewaileth the sins of the people, 
but specially the clergy, as greater than the sin of Sodom. 
For we see that faith aud- justice have forsaken the earth. 
The Holy Scripture and sacred canons are accounted as 
fables. He is now a man of no knowledge that inventeth 
not novelties." You see that then novelties were brought 
in. Vincentius Lirinensis complaineth of, and not only 



eomplaineth of,but^veth direction what to do; '*If any 
novel contagion shall endeavor to stain not only a part 
of the church, but the whole church alike. " His advice 
is to appeal from novelty to antiquity, and not to the 
pope or present church. " This direction is but for new 
heresies at their first rising ; before they falsify the 
rules of ancient faith, before they corrupt ancient writers, 
or can pretend to antiquity, and before by the large 
spreading of the Venom, they endeavor to corrupt the 
volumes of our ancestors." But dilated and inveterate 
heresies are not to be set upon this way, because they 
have had a long occasion of stealing truth ; and there- 
fore we must convince such ancient heresies and schisms 
by the only authority of the Scripture if there be need 
or avoid them. Lirinens, cap^ 4. &r. 

Augustin ad Januarium said ; " they load our religion 
with servile burdens, which God in mercy would have 
to be free, with a very few and most manifest sacra- 
ments of celebration ; so that the condition of the Jews 
was more tolerable, that were subject to legal sacra- 
ments, and not to the presumptions of men. " Gerson. 
Vita Spirit animce, led. 2, par 3, addeth, *' If in thy 
days thou didst mourn, O wise Augustin, what wouldst 
thou have said in our time? where according to the 
variety and motion of heads, there is incredible variety 
and dissonant multiplicity of such servile burdens, and 
as thou callest them, of human presumptions. Among 
which as so many snares of souls, and entangling nets, 
there is scarce any man that walks secure, and is not 
taken, or caught.'* 

In the judgment of Augustin and Gerson, have any 
novelties been brought into the church? did all your 
presumptions and burdens, and as Gerson calls them, 
halters for souls, come from the apostles, or are they your 
own J When all is thus overcome with novelty, do you 
make any question whether any thing be new ? 

Bernard thought that human traditions were too much 
befriended, when he thus describeth the assemblies that 
he approveth, Epist. 91 ; ** Such a council do I delight 
in, in which the traditions of men are not obstinately 
defended, or super^titiously observed : but they do dili- 
gently and humbly inquire, what is the good and well 
pleasing, and perfect will of God'* 



2^ JBSUtT 

General councils by error introduced novelties, wlien 
later councils were fain to undo what the former had 
done : for so doth Augustin profess they did, saying, Dt 
Bapiis. cont Donat. lib. 2. cap. 6, " Councils tiiem- 
selves that are gathered through several regions and 
provinces, do without any scruple yield to the authority 
of more plenary councils that are gathered out of the 
whole Christian world ; and those saine plenary coun- 
cils do often yield or give place, the former to the later, 
when by some experiment of matters, that which was 
shut is opened, and that which lay hid is known. " 

What should hinder the introduction of novelty when 
general councils do so often err 1 If such councils be 
morally and interpretatively the whole church, as the 
Papists say, then the whole church doth err in the 
reception of some novelty, before they declare it 
by their decrees. If you say that general councils can- 
not err, nor introduce such novelties, Bellarmin and 
many give you the lie : for De concil. lib. 2. cap^ 11, 
he saith, " it cannot be answered that those councils 
erred because they were not lawful ; for to most of them 
there was nothing wanting but the pope's assent. The 
second at Ephesus was altogether like that at Basil : for 
both were called by the pope ; in both of them the pope's 
legate shortly after went away ; in both of them the pope 
was excommunicated; and yet, that the council of Ephe- 
sus erred; the adversaries will not deny. Hence he con- 
cludeth that " the chief power ecclesiastical is not in the 
church, nor in the council, the pope being removed." 
AVhat should hinder, when there is but one man's vote 
against it, even the pope's, but that novelty and error 
may enter at any time, and when that one man is so 
wicked and heretical as he is ? General councils are 
but mere name and mockery. The packing, of them ; 
the paucity and non-universality of them ; and the man- 
agement of their affairs show it. They do nothing since 
the papal reign, but what the pope will, excepting the 
condemned councils. They have no being till he will, 
nor make any decrees but what he will, nor are their 
decrees of any further power than he is pleased to give 
them. So that his will is the sdnse of the general coun- 
cil or universal church. Sleidan and Vergerius of Trent 



JVooLiNa. 229 

us ; '* The Holy Ghost went to that council in a 
k-bag from Rome.'* Espencam Titus 1. Bellar* 
de concil. lib. 2. cap. 1 1, says ; ** We must know 
the pope is wont to send legates, instructed con- 
ing the judgment of the apostolic seat, with this 
lition, that if the council do consent to the judgment 
[ie apostolic seat, it shall be formed into a decree: 
>t the forming of the decree shall be deferred Xill 
Pope of Rome, being advised with, shall return his 
ver. In the council of Basil, Ses. 2, it was decreed 
;ommon consent, together with the pope^s legate, 
a council is above the pope ; which certainly is 
' judged erroneous." The councils of Lateran 
Florence decreed the contrary. Pighius saith, 
rarch. Eccles. 1. 6. '* The councils of Constance 
Basil went about, by a new trick and pernicious 
nple, to destroy the ecclesiastical hierarchy^ and 
3ad of it to bring in the domination of a promiscu* 
confused popular multitude ; that is, to raise again 
ylon itself, subjecting to themselvs, or tp the com- 
lity of the church, which they falsly pretend that 
' represent, the very head and prince of the whole 
rch, and him that is the vicar of Christ himself in 
his kingdom; and this against^ order and nature, 
inst the clearest light of Gospel verity, against the 
oubted faith and judgment of the orthodox church 
I" 

'hus general councils with the pope's nuncio may 
g in novelties in faith, against the^clearest light of the 
pel, and the full consent of antiquity; and yet those 
icils affirmed their opinions to be matters of faith, 
the opposite to be heretical and damnable, and con- 
Y to all antiquity. Hence aovelues are matters of 
L The French to this day are guilty of those nov- 
«, and charge their adversaries with innovation, 
feneral councils themselves are but novelties, thoufi^h 
' are the foundation of the faith of one half of the 
lists, as the pope is of the other % Pighius Hie- 
;iL Etcles. lib. 6. cof. 1. Klaith ; '* General councils 
s not a divine or supernatural original, but merely 
lan original and are the invention of Constantine ; 
itaUe indeed sometimes to find oat in eootroveisy 

20 



230 JB0VST 

which iff the orthodox catholic truth : thoagk to this they 
are not necessary, seeing it is a readier way to advise 
with the apostolic seat.^ Is your representative 
church the foundation of your faith, a novelty of C^i- 
stantine^s invention; and yet are you in the old way, 
and must we be put to prove you to be novelists? 

Do you think those popes did go the old way, of \ 
whom Alvarus Pelagius speaks, Planciu Eceles, art 
15. lib, 2; " They succeeded in authority, but not in 
sanctity, intruding themselves, procuring^ bargaining, '■ 
&c. building towers and palaces in Babylon, that is in 
Rome according to Jerom." Some foul innovation sare 
they were guilty of that so re-edified Babylon. 

This is my first proof that you are novelists ; from 
the general accusations of others, and confessions of 
your own. 

2. Another proof that changes may be, and yet the 
time and authors be kn wn ; is, from the. instance of 
other churches, which have been corrupted or subvert- 
ed by innovations, and yet the time and authors are 
unknown. You accuse the churches in Habassia of 
many errors yourselves; and you are not able to tell 
us when they came in, or who introduced thetn. The 
same may be said of the Georgians, Armenians, Bgyp* < 
tians^ ana of the Greeks and Russians. Can you tell 
us when, and by whom, each error was introduced, I 
that corrupted the churches mentioned in the Scripture f [ 
Corintli, Philippi, Colosse, Thessalonica, Ephesus, Lao- | 
dicea,^nd the rest. You can give us no better account ^ 
of that than we can of the authors of your own corrup- [ 
tions. ■ 

Among the primitive fathers, whose writings are ^ 
come to our hands, many errors had the major vote ; . 
as that corporeity of an^els^ which your secona general ^ 
council at Nice owned, the millenary conceit, and many • 
more which you confess to be errors. Tell ns when 
any of those came in, if you can, umleas yon believe |^ 
that Papias received the fast from John, and then it is | 
no error. Who did first induce the Asian choiches to | 
celebrate Easter at a season dififering from yoaia) who j 
first brought the Britons to it ? We know not certainly j^ 
who first converted many nations on earth, nor when 



\ 



JUGGLING. 231 

thej first receiTed their Christianity : and how then 
should we Jcdow when they first received each error f 
Good men did bring* in novelties: and what was by 
them iptroduced as indifierent, by custom grewto«eem 
necessary : and what they received as a doubtful opin* 
ion was esteemed a point of faith. The presbyters 
and whole clergy of Neocesarea were offended with 
Basil for his innovations ; for bringing in a new psalm- 
ody, or way of singing to God, and for his new order 
sf monastics : and they told him that none of that was 
80 in Gregorv's days. What answered Basil? He 
denieth not the novelty of this psalmody, but retorts 
again on them, that their litany also was new, and not 
known in the time of Gregory Thaumaturgus ; ** How 
know you, says he, that those thing-s were not in the 
days or Gregory ? for you have kept nothing unchang- 
ed to this day of all that he was used to." You see 
what changing was then in the church among all sorts, 
irhen such an alteration was made in less than forty 
years. Tet Basil would not have any unity to be lain 
on any of those things, but addeth ; " We pardon all 
those things, though God will examine all things : only 
let the principal things be safe. '' Basil Epist. 63. Isi- 
dore Pelusiota lib. 1. Epist. 90, saith; "The apostles 
•f the Lord studying to restrain and suppress unmeet 
loquacity, and shewing themselves masters of modesty 
and gravity to us, did by wise councils permit women 
(0 sing in the churches. But as all God's documents 
are tamed into the contrary, so this is turned to disso- 
kitenees, and the occasion for sin. For they are not 
afifected with deep compunction in singing divine 
hymns; but abusing the sweetness of the singing, to 
the irritating and provoking of lust, they take it for no 
better than «tage-play ^ngs." Therefore he adviseth 
that they be suffered to sing no more. 

Here yo« see; that changes had happened about 
many divine things: that he adviseth himself the intro- 
daeing of this novelty, that women be forbidden singing 
IB, the church, because of the abuse, though he confess 
it a wise apostolic order. So that for novelty by good 
men to creep into Grod's worship, is not strange. 
8. Moreover the nature of the thing may tell all the 



t32 1B0VIT 

world, that neither you nor we can account for the be- 
ginning of every error that creepcth into the church: 
for the distance of time is great Historians are not 
so exact: and what they tell ns not, neither yon, 
nor we can know — Much history is perished — Much 
b corrupted hy yonr wicked forgeries — Mixtures oi 
bhles have hindered the credit of much of if — Nationi 
are not individual persons, but consist of millions of 
individuals: and as it is not a whole nation that is con- 
verted to the faith at once, so neither is it whole nations 
that are perverted to heresy at once, but one receiveth 
it first, and then more and more, till it overspread the 
whole. Paul saith that such doctrine eateth like gan- 
grene'; and that is by degrees, beginning on one part, 
and proceeding to the rest. That which is at first re- 
ceived but as an opinion and an indifferent thing, must 
have time to grow into a custom, and that custom maketh 
it a law, and makes opinions grow up to be articles of 
faith, and ceremonies grow to be necessary things. This 
is the common way of propagating opinions in the 
world. Usher de suceessu^ et sUUu Mccles. Moma^f 
Mysteiy of Iniquity^ and Rivet in the defence of him 
against Costerellus. Pet. Molinaus hath purposely 
written a book de Novitate Papismi^ et Antiquitate 
veri Ckristianismif showing the newness of Popery in 
the several parts of it. 

4. Can you tell us yourselves, when many of your 
doctrines or practices sprung up ? When took you up 
your Sabbatk s fasty for such you have been condemn- 
ed by a council? When the twentieth canon of the 
Nicene council, and when the canons at Trull were 
made. It was the practice of the church through the 
known world, to pray and perform other worshipstand- 
ing, and to avoid kneeling on the Lord's day : Tell us 
when this canon and tradition was first violated by you, 
and by whom ? It was once the custom of your church 
to give infents the Eucharist : Who first broke it off? 
It was once your practice to communicate in both 
kinds : Who first denied the cup to the Laity? At first 
it was only a doubtful opinion, that saints are to be 
prayed to, and the dead prayed for, which came into 
men's minds about the third or fourth century : But 



JuooLiNa. 2^ 

Irlio first made them articles of fiuth? Augustin began 
to doubt, whether th^re were not some kind of Purga- 
tory: But who first made this also a point of faith? 
Wno was it that first added the books of the Maccabees, 
and many others to the canon of Scripture, contrary to 
the council of Laodicea, and all the rest of the consent 
^ antiquity. Who was it that first taught and prac- 
tised the putting an oath to all the*clergy of the Chris- 
tian church to be true to the Pope, and to obey him as 
the Vicar of Christ ? Who first taught men to swear 
that they would not interpret Scripture, but according to 
the unanimous consent of the Fathers ? Who was the 
first that brought in the doctrine or name of Transub- 
ttantiation ? and who first made it an article of faith ? 
Who first made it a point of faith to believe that there 
ire just seven sacraments, neither fewer nor more? 
Did any before the. council of Trent swear men to re- 
ceive and profess without doubting, all things delivered 
hy the canons and Oecumenical councils, when at the 
eame time they cast off themselves the canons of many 
general councils, and so are generally and knowingly 
perjured? These and abundance more you know to be 
novelties with you, if wilfulness or gross ignorance 
bear not rule with you; and without great impudence 
you cannot deny it. Tell us when these first came up, 
and satisfy yourselves. 

jEneas Sylvi%s, Epist. 288, saitb, " before the coun- 
cil of Nice, there was little respect had to the church 
of Rome." You see here the time is mentioned, when 
your foundation was not laid. 

Caidinsil Nicolas Cusanus, de Concord. Cathol. c. 13, 
&c., as plainly tells you; "that the Papacy is but of 
positive right ; and that ^ priests are equal ; and that 
it is subjectional consent that gives the pope and 
bishops thetr majority ; and that the distinction of dio- 
cesSi and that a bishop be over presbyters, are of posi- 
tive right ; and that Christ gave no more to Peter than 
the rest ; and that if the Congregate Church should 
choose the bishop of Trent for their president or head, 
he should be more properly Peter's successor than the 
bishop of Rome." Tell us now when did the contrary 

doctrine first arise ? 

20* 



tU ntmr 

Oregory d4 Valentitti d€ leg. uiu Buekar, cap. 10, 
states^ *' that the receiTiBg the sftcrament in one kind, 
began not by the decree of any bishop, but by the very 
use of the charches, and the consent of believers: and 
tlMit it is unknown when that custom first begiUr or got 
head, but that it was general in the Latin Ohnroh, not 
long before the late council of Constance." And may 
you not see in this, how other points came in? 

If Pope Zosimus had but had his will, and the &- 
thers of the Carthage council had pot diligently dis 
covered, shamed, and resisted his forgery, &e world 
had received a new Nicene canon, and we should ne- 
ver have known the originfd of it. . 

The Liatin tongue was the vulgar tongue, when the 
Liturgy and Scripture was first written in it ; at Rome, 
and far and near, it was understood by all. The service 
was not changed, as to the language* but the languagiB it- 
self changed : and so Scripture and Liturgy came to be 
in an unknown tongue. When did the Latin tongue 
cease to be understood by all f Tell us what year, or 
by whom the change was made? Eretsmujt VecL ad 
ceiisur. Paris, tit. 12. sect. 41, saith; "The vulgar 
tongue was not taken from the people, but the people 
departed from it" 

5. Your errors were not in the times of the apostles, 
nor long after, and therefore they are innoviEitions. If 
I find a man in a dropsy, or a consumption, I would 
not tell him, that he is well, and ought not to seek 
remedy, unless he can tell when he began to be ill, and 
what caused it. 

You take us to be heretical : and yet you cannot tell 
us when out errors did first arise. Will you tell us of 
Luther? You know the Albigenses whom you mur- 
dered by hundreds and thousands, were long before 
him. Do you know when they begun f Your Reine- 
rius saith, that some said, they were from Silvester's 
days ; and some said since the apostles : but no other 
beginning do you know. 

6. What need we any more than to find you owning 
the very doctrine and praciice of innovation? When 
you maintain that you can make us new articles of 
nith, and new worship, and new discipline, and that 



JVCKILINO. 335 

the Pope can dispense with the Scriptures, and snch 
like ; what reason have we to believe tMt your church 
ibhorreth novelty f 

Pope Leo X, among other of Luther's opinions, 
reckoned and opposed this as heretical ; ** It is certain 
hxiX it is not in the hand of the church or pope, to make 
irticles." Bulla cont. Luther. 

The council of Constance that took the supremacy 
ustly from the pope, did unjustly takei the cup from 
iie laity in the Eucharist ; " Though in the primitive 
:huTch this sacrament was received by believers under 
l>oth kinds." 

The council of Trent say, Sess. 21. cap. 1,2; " This 
[)Ower was always in the church : that in dispensing 
the sacraments, saving the substance of them, it might 
DTdain or change things, as it should judge most expe- 
dient to the profit of the receiver." 

Yasquez To. 2. Bisp. 216. N. 60, saith- "Though 
we should grant that this was a precept of the apostles, 
nevertheless the church and pope might on just causes 
abrogate it : for the power of the apostles was no greater 
than the power of the church and pope, in bringing in 
precepts/' 

Pope Innocent says ; by the fulness of our power, we 
candispense with the law above law. The Gloss therein 
saith ; '' The pope dispenseth against the apostle ; 
against the Old Testament. The pope dispenseth with 
the Gospel, interpreting it." Gregory de Valent. Tom. 
4. disp, h. 8; saith; " Certainly some things in later 
times are more rightly constituted in the church than 
they were in the beginning." Cardinal Perron said, 
lib. 2. Ohs. 3. cap. 3. against King James ; on the 
authority of the church to alter matters contained in 
the Scripture: and he instanced of the form of saci^a- 
ments boing alterable ; and the Lord's command, drink 
ye all of it, mutable and dispensable. Tolet ; ** It is cer- 
tain, that all things instituted by the apostles were not 
of divine right. Andradius Defens. Condi. Trid. lib, 
2. p.2Z6 ; hence it is plain that they do not err that say 
the popes of Rome may sometime dispense with laws 
iteade by Paul and the four first councils. Bzovius 
saith ] '* The Roman church using apostolical power, 



286 JB09IT 

dotk aocordioff to the ooadition of timef, change all 
things for the belter." And yet will yon aobmit to be 
taken for changers and noYelists ? CkemnitiMS Exam' 
in.conciL TridenL 

Augustin Triumph, de Ancofu q. 5. art. 1, eaiih; ''To 
make a new creed, belon^fs only to the pope : because 
he is the head of the Christian fidth, by wnose author- 
ity all things belonging to fiuth are confirmed and 
strengthened." Art. 2: "As he may make a new 
creed, so he may multiply new articles upon new arti- 
cles." Im Prafat. sum. ad Jokan^ " The pope's pow- 
er is infinite ; because the Lord is great, and his strength 
great, and of his greatness there is no end :" and Q. 36 ; 
" The pope giveth the motion of direction, and the 
sense of luiowledge, to all the members of the church ; 
for in him we live and move and have our being. The 
will of God, and consequentlv the pope's will, who is 
hi? vicar, is the first and chief cause of all motions cor- 
poral and spiritual" Then no doubt he may change 
without blame. 

Abbas Panormitan. cap. C. Christus de haret. n. 2. 
saith ; " The pope can bring in a ^ew article of £iith." 
Peter de Anchoran. asserts; '** The pope can niake new 
articles of faith; such as now ought. to be believed, 
when before they ought not to be believed." 

Turrecremat. sum. de EccL lib. 2. cap. 203, said; 
" The pope is the measure and rule, and science of 
things to be believed." August. <ie Ancona shews us 
that ''the judgment of God is not higher than the pope.s, 
but the same ; therefore no man may appeal from the 
pope to God :" Qu. 6. Art, 1. 

. The following is a great Pifpith argument for the Papacy. 

** It will not be denied that the church of Rome was 
once a most pure, excellent, flourishing and mother 
church ; and her faith renownedj in the world, Rom. I 
8. et 6. et 16. White's Def. Whitaker^s Answer to 
Sanders. Fulke cap. 21. Thes. 7. Reynolds Conclusions* 

That church could not cease to be such, but she 
must fall either by apostacy, heresy, or schism. 

Apostacy is not only a renouncing x)f the faith of 
Christ; but of the name and title of Christianity. No 
man will say that the church of Bome had such a &11. 
or so fell. 



JVGOLINO. 237 

Heresy' iff an adhesion or fast clearing to some pri* 
vate or singular opinion, or error in faith, contrary to 
the generally aj^roved doctrine of the church. 

If the church of Rome did ever adhere to any singu* 
Jar or new opinion, disagreeable to the common teceiv 
ed doctrine of the Christan world, I pray you sjtisfy 
me in those particulars ; by what general council was 
she ever condemned f which of the fathers ever writ 
agrainst her? by whal authority was she otherwise re- 
proved / 

For it seems to be a thing very incongruous, that so 
greiEit a church should be condemned by every private 
person, who hath a mind to condemn her. 

Schism is a departure or division from the unity of 
the church, whereby the bond and communion neld 
with some former church is broken and dissolved. 

If ever the church of Rome divided herself from any 
body of faithful Christians, or broke communion, or 
went forth from the society of any elder church, I pray 
you satisfy me in those particulars; whose company 
did she leavd? from what body went she forth? whe^e * 
was the true church she forsook ? 

It appears not a little strange, that a church should 
be accounted schismatical, when there cannot be assign- 
ed any other church different from her, which from 
age to age since Christ's time hath continued visible, 
from which she departed." 

Answer to the foregoing Argxtment, 
If the author of this argument thinks as he speaks, 
it is a case to be lamented with tears of blood, that the 
church of Christ should be abused, and the souls of 
men deluded by men of so g'reat ignorance. But if he 
knew that he doth but juggle and deceive, it is lamenta- 
ble that any matter of salvation should fall into such 
hands. 

The word church here is ambiguous, and either sig- 
nifieth, a particular church which is an association of 
Christians for personal communion in God's worship, 
or divers such associations, or churches associated for 




S38 JEtlViT 

may signify the universal cliarch itself, which contain- 
eth aU the particular churches ia the world. 

The Papist should not have played either the blind 
man or the juggler by confounding those, and never tel- 
ling us which he means. For the first we grant him 
that Rome was once an excellent flourishing church : 
and so was Ephesus, Jerusalem, Philippi, Colosse 
and many more. 

As to the !second sense, it is human or from church 
custom, so to take the word church ; for Sdripture doth 
not so use it: but for the thing we are indifferent: 
though it cannot be proved that in Scripture times Rome 
had any more than one particular church. 

As to the third and fourth senses, we deny, as confi- 
dently as we do that the sun is darkness, that ever in 
Scripture times Rome was either a mother to all churches, 
or the raler and mistress of all, or yet the universal 
church itself. Prove that and I will iu,rn Papist I 

But there is not a word for it in the texts cited, but 
an intimation of much against it. Paul calleth Rome 
' a church and commendeth its faith : but doth he not so 
by the Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians, Philip- 
pians, &c. and John by the Philadelpnians, Pergamos, 
Thyatira, and others, as well ? And will not this 
prove that Rome was but such a particular church as 
one of them? 

Rome was once a true and famous particular church, 
but never the universal church, nor the ruler of the 
world, or of all other churches, in Paul's days. Would 
you durst lay your cause on this, and put it to the trial ? 
Why else did never Paul make one word of mention of 
this power and honor, nor send other churches to her 
to be governed 7 

What is it to me, whether Rome be turned either 
apostate, heretical, or schismatical, any more than 
whether Jerusalem, Ephesus, Philippi, or any other 
church be so fallen ? if you are not fallen I am glad 
of it; if you are I am sorry for it; and so I have done 
with you, unless I knew how to recover you. Would 
you not laugh at the church of Jerusalem that was truly 
the mother church of the world, if they should thus 
reason ; •• We are not fallen away: therefore we musi 



JUGGLING. 239 

ule over all the world, and no man is a Christian that 
loth not obey usi" 

We accuse you not of renouncing the name of Christ 
»Qt according to your own definition of heresy, you are 
ruilty of many heresies. 

To your questions, I answen What general coun- 
ils did ever condemn one half of the heresies mention- 
id by Epiphanius, Augustin or Philastrius ? Was there 
ver a greater rabble of heresies than before ever a ge- 
neral council was known? and were they dead and 
»uried before the first general council was born ? Did 
rou not smile when you wrote those delusory questions ; 
How can a general council condemn you, or any great 
)art of the church ? for instance, the Greeks, &c. If 
^oa be not there, it is not a general council ? And will 
^ou be there to condemn yourselves ? You have more 
^"it, and less grace. General councils did ever con- 
lemn the Greeks, for those many errors charged on 
:hem ? If the Greeks themselves were not there, it was 
QOt a general council : so considerable a part are they of 
the professing church. And what general council hath 
condemned the Abassines, Egyptians, &c. 

' Do you think general councils are so stark mad or 
horridly impious, as to condemn so many kingdoms 
with one condemnation for heresy? They know that 
men must be heard, before they be condemned, and a 
kingdom consisteth of many millions ot souls. It is 
not enough to know every man's faith, if we know the 
faith of the Vms, or pope, or arch-bishop, or prelates. 
How long shall they be examining each person in 
many kingdoms.^ 

Yet I can say more of your church than of others. 
He that kills the head, kills the man. Your usurping 
head is an essential part of your new-formed church : 
bat your head hath been condemned by councils ; there- 
fore your church in . its essential part hath been con- 
demned by councils. Do you not know that all 
the world condemned your Pope Marcellinus for offer- 
ing to idols f Know you not that two or three general 
councilt condemned Pope Honorius as a monothelite ? 
that the second general council of Ephesus condemned 
ind ezcommanicated your pope ? And that the comicil 



840 jxauis 

of Basil, called by him, did the like / If you do not, 
see Bellarmin's parallel of them, tie ConeUiis lib, 2. 
cap. 11. Do I need to tell you what the coancil of 
Constance did ? Or for what John XXII, alias XXIII, 
and John XIII, and other Popes were deposed by conn* 
cils ? Ek) I need to tell yoa how many Fathers condemned 
Marcellinus, Liberius, Honorius and others/ How 
oft Hilary Pictavius fragmentis in Epist, Liberiit 
doth cry out, Anathema iibi, Libert, pravarieator : 
presuming to curse and excommunicate your pope. 
Need I tell you what Tertullian saith against Zephe- 
rinus ? what Alphonsus a Castro, and divers of your 
own, say against Liberius, Honorius, Anastasius, Ce- 
lestin; and tell us that many popes have been heretics ? 
At least permit us to believe Pope Adrian V I., himself. 
Bannes in T. 2, q. \. art 10, proves at large against 
Pighius, that a pope may be a heretic* and laughs at 
Pighius that now, after two hundred years, would 
prove them false witnesses, who write that Pope Hon- 
orius was condemned fox a heretic by three popes, 
Agatho, Leo II. and Adrian II. 

But though the popes have been condemned by 
councils, yet so have not your maintained doctrines. 
Did not the councils at Constantinople condemn the doc- 
trine of the second Nicene council for image-worship, 
and the council at Frankford do the like ? and those 
two at Constantinople were much more general than 
your council of Trent was. 

That same council at Nice condemned the doctrine 
of Thomas Aquinas, and your doctors commonly, of 
worshipping the image of Christ, and the cross, and 
sign of the cross, with Latria, divine worship. 

Did not your general councils at Lateran and Flor- 
ence declare that the pope i above a council. And that 
they cannot depose him ? Yet your general councils 
at Constance and Basil determine the contrary as an 
article of &ith, and expressly affirm the former to be 
heresy. Then your own doctrine, even in a fundamen- 
tal point, is condemned by general councils of your 
own, which side soever you take, the pope's, or the 
council's. 

Did not the sixth council of Carthage, of which 



JUOOLINO. 241 

Aagustin was a principal member, not only detect Pope 
Zosimus' forgea canon of Nice, but also openly and 
Drevalently resist and reject his usurpation, and refuse 
liis Legates and Appeals ? Pope Boniface, Epist. ad 
EtUaliumt says, ** Aurelius, sometime bishop of Carth- 
age, with his colleagues, did begin, by the devil's insti- 
gation to wax proud against the church of Rome, in the 
times of our predecessors, Boniface and Celestin." 

Harding against Jewel's challenge, art 4. sect. 19 : 
says, " After the whole African church had persevered 
in schism the space of twenty years, and had removed 
themselves from the obedience of the apostolic seat, 
being seduced by Aurelius Bishop of Carthage." Aus- 
tinwas one of them. 

But you say, that this was not a general council. 
True; for when part riseth against part, it cannot be 
the whole that is on either side. 

Do you not know that the Greeks have often con- 
demned yoa? Truly their councils have been much more 
general than yours at Trent was ; where about forty- 
bishops alterea the canon of Scripture, and made tradi- 
tion equal with it. This one county would have af- 
forded a far better council of a greater number. 

One general council hath condemned your very 
foundation ; and that is the fourth general council at 
Calcedon, Act. 15. Can. 28, and Act. 16; where you 
may find, that the ancient privileges of the Roman 
throne were given them by the fathers in council. 
That the reason was, because Rome was the Imperial 
city. That they give equal privileges to the seat of 
Constantinople, because it was now become new Rome: 
and that the Roman Legates would not be present at that 
act. But the next day when they did appear, and pre- 
tended that this act was forced, the bishops all cried; 
"No man was compelled. It is a just decree. We all 
say thus. We approve it. We all approve it. Let that 
stand that is decreed. It is all right. 

That general council thought they needed not the 
pope's approbation for the validity of their decrees ; 
when they pass them and take them for valid, even 
contrary to the will of the pope. " Did that council 
think.thal their decrees were invalid, if the pope ap- 

21 



242 jmsmr 

prore them not f Tbey did not And who is now to 
be believed T Bellarmio and his party, and the present 
preTalent party of the Papists, that say, coancik not 
iqiproTed by the pope are inyalid or without authority: 
or the council of C^lcedon that thongbt otherwise? 

The pope's legates called that proceeding; '* A hom- 
bling, and depressins^, and wronging of the Papacy; 
and therefore entered their dissent" Sellarmin Con- 
fession lib. 2. de Pontif. cap, 17. Binius Notes on that 
council. Baronius an, 451. 

The shifts of Bellarmin, Binius, Baronius, Becanos,. 
Gretser, &c., are fisilse which say that canon was sur- 
reptitiously brought into the council. JEtius, Act 16. 
openly professed the contrary, and all the bishops gave 
their consent to the last 

This is one of the four great councils which the Pa- 
pists themselves compare to the four Gospels ; and in it 
were six hundred and thirty Others. 

That great council is against them, and on the Pro- 
testant side, in the very foundation of all our differences, 
whether the Roman privileges be of divine or human 
right? And though it be but the privileges, and not 
the now claimed vicarship that was in question, yet the 
conclusion is the stronger against them, because the 
lesser was denied. 

But their last shift is, that this clause or canon was 
not approved, and so is null. Mark then; we have 
general councils against you ; but we want the pope's 
approbation. Was that the meaning of your question, 
what council ? that is what pope condemned our 
church? Can it be expected that a man should con- 
demn himself? or, can you be no heretic till then ? 

Did not your pope aprove of that council, when 
Gregory I. likened it with the other three to the four 




is expressly a full approbation, not without excepting 
any part only^, but excluding all such exceptions. The 
like approbation of Gelasius in the Roman cotincil, is 
eited there also in the decrees. 

It is no hard matter to prove you condeinneil by your 



>WD {>ope». If you could but understand the plaineat 
rords, there needed no talk to persuade you that Pope 
jrregory I. condemned the title of universal bishop 
>r patriarch; professing earnestly that he was the fore- 
runner of antichrist that would usurp it. But the plain 
ruth is, as sad experience teacheth us, no words of 
Gathers, popes or councils, much less of Scripture, are 
intelligible to you. But we may "truly say of you, that 
lay all on the will of the pope, as Lodovicus Vives 
freely speaketh, Schol. in August, lib. 20. de Civit, 
Dei, cap. 26 ; " Those are taken by them for edicts and. 
councils, which make for them, or are on their side ; 
the rest they no more regard than a meeting of women 
in a work- house or a washing place." Do you under- 
stand this language of one too honest to have much 
company? 

You have a third question.; ** By what authority 
was she otherwise reproved?" By the authprity of 
that precept, Levit 19. 17. By the same authority that 
Paul reproved Peter, Galatians 2, and withstood him 
to the face. By such authority as any man may 
quench a fire in his neighbor's house: or pull a man 
out of the water that is drowning : or as any one pastor 
may reprove another when he sinneth. By the same 
authority as Irenseus rebuked Victor, and the Asian 
bishops withstood him ; and as Cyprian and the coun- 
cil of Carthage reproved Stephen ; and the rest afore* 
cited did what they did. By as good authority as the 
church of Rome condemneth the Greek church, doth 
the Greek church and many others condemn the 
priests of Rome. 

The next case is about the Roman schism. To 
question whether Papists be schismatics, is to question 
whether Ethiopians be black. Do you not at this day 
divide from all the Christian world, save yourselves? 
d<fyounet unchurch all the Christians on earth. O 
dreadful presumption ! when Christ is so tender of his 
interest and his servants, and is bound, as it were, by 
80 many promises to save them and not forsake them. 
" You ask, what church you left ? and when was it / and 
whose company ? " Senseless questions ! By a church, 
if you mean the universal church there is but one in 



!^44 MMMfnt 

M ; mod therdbre one oDirenal ehnrcfa cmnnot forsake 
mDOlber : bat when part of it forsaketh the other part, 
MMkd arrogmteth the tide of the whole to themselves, do 
jan doaU whether that be achiam f If you meaD a par- 
ticalar church : how can Spain, Italy, France, and 
many more kingdoms, go out of a particuiar church, 
that contain so many hundred particular churches in 
them? No more than London can go out of PaQ^s 
church. The catholic is but one, containing all true 
Christiaos on earth: and you have been guilty of a 
most horrid schism. Tou have aet up a church in the 
church; unirersal church in the uniyersal church; a 
new form destructiye to the old. Tour pope as Christ's 
representative, is now an essential part of it, and no 
man is a member of it, that is not a member of the 
pope's body, and subject to him. So that even the an- 
tipodes, and the poor Abassines, that know not whether 
the pope be fish or flesh, or never heard of snch^ name 
or thing, must all be unchristened, unchurched and 
damned, if you be judges. Bellarmin tells us, which 
indeed your church constitution doth infer, that all that 
are duly baptized, are interpretatively or implicitly 
baptized into the pope. 

As you have devised a new catholic church, so you 
hereby cast oflf and disown all the Christians of the 
world that be not of your party, determining that none 
of them can be saved : who yet had rather venture on 
your curse and censure than into your heresy and 
schism. 

You Bx yourselves in this schism, and put us who 
unfeignedly long for peace, out of all hope of ever hav- 
ing peace with you ; because you will hearken to it on 
no terms, but that all men become subjects to your 
usurping representative-Christ : which we dare as soon 
leap into the fire as do. Do you know now where the 
church or body was that you forsook ? It was all over 
the world where ever there was any Christians. 

Were it not a great schism, think you, if a few Jes- 
uits should say, we are the whole church, and all oth- 
ers are heretics or schismatics ? Or was it not a great 
schism of the Donatists to arrogate that title to them- 
selves, and uncbttrch 80 many others ? and what church 



JUGOLINO. 245 

did they forsake / Augustin tells them over and over, 
what the catholic church was that they withdrew from ; 
CTen all true Christians dispersed over the earth : or 
that church which began at Jerusalem, and thence dif- 
fused itself through the world. But he never blames 
them for separating from the universal Roman head or 
Ticar. But from the conspicuous combination of par- 
ticular churches, Optatus and he do blame them for 
withdrawing. 

What if John of Constantinople, in piosecution of 
his title of universal patriarch, had concluded as you, 
that none in the world are Christ's members but his 
members, nor of the church but his subjects, had not 
this been a notorious schism .^^ Tell us then what 
church he had forsaken. 

But your last caution doth condemn yourselves. 
Must that church that is true be visible from Christ's 
time ? then Constantinople, nor most other, were never 
true churches, and Rome itself was never a true church. 
Did you think that there was a church at Rome in 
Christ's time ? you are not so ignorant. By this rule 
there should be no true church, but that at Jerusalem, 
and those in Judea. 

But suppose you had said, since the apostles' time; 
that also had excluded most churches on earth. Bui 
if you mean the universal church; it hath been visible 
ever since Christ's time: but not always in one place 
or country. Is not the greater part of Christians iia 
the world, whom you schismatically unchurch, a visi- 
ble company ? The Abassines and many churches out 
of the Roman empire did never so much as submit to 
your primacy of order, nor had you ever any thing to 
do with them, more than to own them as Christians; 
yet now are condemned by your arrogancy, because 
they will not begin, in the end of the world, to enter 
into a new church on which they nor their forefathers 
had ever any dependence. It was a shrewd aniswer of an 
old woman, that the emperor oi Habassia's mother gave 
to Rodericus the Jesuit, pressing her to be subject to 
the Pope as Vicar of Christ, or else she could not be 
subject to Christ. »' We are in J:he same belief as we 
were from the beginning: If it were not^ight why di4 

?1* 



f46 JBSIfIT 

no man in so many ages warn us of our error till nowt^ 
Mark here a double argument against the pope ; one 
from apostolical tradition ; for Godignus himself saitb, 
that no man doubts but Ethiopia received the faith froiQ 
tlie beginning even from the Eunuch. The other is, 
that pope, who cannot in so many ages look after his 
flock, to send one man to tell them that tiiey erred till 
about one thousand five hundred years after Christ, was 
never intended by Christ to be the universal governor 
of the world. Will Christ set - any on an nnpossible 
work ? or make it so necessary to people to obey one 
that they never so much as hear from 1 But what said 
the Jesuit to the old woman I he told her ; ''The Pope 
of Rome who is ihe pastor of the wh(^ church of Christ, 
was not able in the years past to send doctors into Halh 
assia, because the Mohammedans compassed all, and left 
not any passage to them. But now the seas are open, 
he can do that which he could not do before. *' Liter. 
GonzaL Roder, in Godign, de Reh, Abass, lib, 2. cap. 
18. As if Christ had set either the pope or the Abas- 
sines an impossible task; and appointed a governor that 
for so many hundred years coirid not govern : or the 
people roust be so many hundred years no Christians, 
though they believed in Christ, till the pope could send 
to them ? and how shouhl those and all such countries 
send prelates to a general council t 

Canu^ hoc. Theol. saith of the Jesuits; so say I of 
your new church ; " You are called to the society of 
Jesus Christ, which society being undoubtedly the church 
of Christ, let them see to it, that arrogate this title to 
themselves, whether they do not imitate heretics by a 
lyincr aAirmation that the church is only with them.^ 

But we do not hence conclude that all that have lived 
ai^ died in your profession, have been no members of 
the dnirch, because your church is guil^ of heresy, and 
notoriottsly of schism. MiHions that live among you 
consent not to* your usiirp«tioiis ; and do not so mach 
%s understand your errors. Some hold them but no- 
lionally as ineffectual opihions. Ever? one » not a 
^^ei>Htc that holdetli a point ikat is iwi^ heretical, and 
wKMi is l^resy in another, thnt iioldeth h in another 



JUOOLIKG. Ili47 

sort. And there are errors called heresies by most, 
which are not destructive to the essentials of Chris^ 
tianity, but only to some Integral part. There is a 
schism that doth not unchurch men^ as well as a schism 
that doth. But your own writers put you hard to it, 
who conclude, as Bellarmin and many more do, that 
heretics and schismatics are no members of the church. 
Melch, Canus. hoc, Theol. lib. 4. cap. 2. saitb ^ ** That 
heretics are no part of the church, is the common con- 
clusion of all divines; not only of those that have writ- 
ten of late, but of them also that by their antiquity are 
esteemed the most noble : this is attested by Cyprian 
Augu^tin, Gregory, the two councils of Lateran and 
Florence. Rightly therefore did Pope Nicholas define 
that the church is a collection of catholics. " If this be 
true, it is an article of faith : and then Alphonsus a Castro, 
and all of his mind are heretics and lost men. Two ap- 
proved general councils have determined that a heretic 
is no member of the chnrch : but multitudes of your 
own writers, and Pope Adrian, and many more of your 
popes have judged that a pope may be a heretic : and 
consequently no member of the church. What is be- 
come of your church, when an essential part of it is no 
part of the church l 

Your-common shift, which Canus and others fiy to, is, 
that **he must be a judged heretic before he is dismemr 
bered." But that is for manifestation to men ; before trod 
he is the same, if men never judge him. Where the 
case is notorious, the offender is cut off. Then it is in 
the pope's power, to let whole millions of heretics to be 
still parts of the church : and so the world shall be 
Christi<ins or no Christians as he please. And why may 
he not let Turks and infidels on the same grounds be 
part of the church ] for he may forbear to judge them, 
if that will serve. Then all tlie Christians in the world 
that the pope hath not yet judged and cast out, are 
members of the church. Millions thus are of the church 
that never were subjects of the pope. If you say it is 
enough that there is a general condemnation, of all thsyt 
are guHty as they are : then it is enough to cut off a 
pope, that there was a general condemnation against 
such as he is. 



848 lEMVtt 

Two or three couDcils and three {M>pes did all judge 
Pope Honorios guilty of heresy, and consequently both 
popes. and general councils have judged that a pope may 
be an heretic : therefore you have been judged hereti- 
cal in your head, which is an essential part of your 
church. 

Thus I have shewed what is the Romish schism, 
which being but a part, hath attempted to cut off all 
the rest, and so hath made a new pretended catholic 
church. As a part of the old church which con- 
sisteth of all Christians united in Christ, we confess, alJ 
those still to be a part, that destroy not this Christianity, 
but as you are new gathered to a Christ-representative, 
or vicar general, we deny you to be any church of Chrisl. 
If you be church members^ or saved^it must he as Chris' 
tians ; hut never as Papists : for a Papist may he a 
Christian, hut not as a Purist. 

If you cannot see the church that you separate from, 
open your eyes and look into much of E.urope, and all 
over Asia, where are any Christians: look into Armenia, 
Palestine, Egypt, Ethiopia, and many other countries, 
and you shall find that you are but a smaller part of the 
church. Antony Marinarius in the council of Trent 
complained ; " That the church is shut up in the corners 
of Europe, and yet domestic cfnemies arise, that waste 
this portion shut up in. a corner. " 

Sonnius of Antwerp, Demonstrat, Relig, Christian, 
lib, 2. Tract, 5. c. 3, saith ; " I pray you what room 
hath the catholic church now in the habitable world? 
scarce three ells long in comparison of that vastness 
which the Satanical church doth possess." 

If yet you boast that you have the same seat that 
formerly you had: I answer ; so have the. bishops of 
Constantinople, Alexandria, and others whom you con- 
demn. Gregory Nazianz. Orat, de laud. Athanasii, 
says ; " It is a succession of godliness that is property 
to be esteemed a succiession. For he that professeth 
the same doctrine of faith, is also partaker of the same 
throne: but he that embraceth the contrary belief, 
ought to be judged an adversary though he be in the 
throne. This indeed hath the name of succession ; but 
the other hath the thing itself, and the truth. For 



JuooLrNo. 24d 

le that brieaketh in by force, as abundance of popes did, 
m not to be esteemed a successor; but rather he that 
lufiereth force : nor he that breaketh the laws ; but be 
h&t is chosen in manner agreeable to the laws : nor he 
that holdeth contraiy tenets ; but he that is endued with 
the same faiths Unless any man call him a successor, 
fts we say a sickness succeedeth health, or darkness 
succeedeth light, and a storm succeds a calm, or mad- 
ness or distraction succeedeth ^prudence. " 

To which may be added another Papist decision; 
" Because many princes and chief -priests or popes and 
other inferiors, have been found to apostatize, the church 
consisted! in those persons in whom is the true knowl- 
edge and confession of faith and verity." Lyra Gloss. 
Matthew 16.. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Svccession of doctrinea. 

Another of their deceits is this: To charge us unih 
introducing new articles of faith or points of religion j 
because we contradict the new articles which they in- 
troduce, and then they require us to prove our docttines 
which are but the negatives of theirs. 

We receive no doctrine of faith or worship but what 
was delivered by the apostles to the church. Those 
men bring in abundance of new ones, and say without 
proof, that they received them from the apostles. And 
because we refuse to receive their novelties, they call our 
rejections of them, the doctrines of our religion ; and 
feign OS to be the innovators. By this device, it is in 
the power of any heretic to force the church to take up 
new points of faith. If a Papist shall say, that besides 
the Lord's prayer, Christ gave his disciples another 
form, or two, or three, or many ; or that he gave them 
ten new commandments not mentioned in the Bible ; or 
that he oft descended after his ascension, and conversed 
with them ; or that Christ instituted twenty sacraments, 
how should we deal with those mon^but by denying their 



fictions af sinful novelty, mnd rejecting ^n m corrapt 
addition! to the faith ? and were this any novehy in ml 
and should they bid us prove in the express words of 
Scripture or antiquity, our negative propositions, that 
Christ gave but one form of prayer, that be did not oft 
descend, that he g^ve no more dectdogues, sacraments, 
Adc. ? Is it not a sufficient proof of any of these, that 
they are not written ; and that no tradition of them 
from the apostles is proved ; and that they who hold the 
affirmative, and introduce the novelty, must prove, and 
not we / Our articles of faith are the same, and not 
increased, nor any new ones added : but the Papists 
come in with a new faith, as large as all- the novelties in 
the decretals and the councils : and those innovations of 
theirs we reject. Now our rejections do not increase 
the articles of our faith, no more than my beating a dog 
out of my house, or keeping out an enemy, or sweeping 
out the filth, doth enlarge my house or increase my fam- 
ily. They do not take all the anathemas and rejections 
in their own councils, to be canons or articles of faith. 
The pope iiath made it an article of faith, ** no Scrip- 
ture is to be interpreted but according to the unanimous 
consent of the fathers. " This we reject and make it 
no article of our faith, but an erroneous novelty. Do we 
hereby make a new article, because we reject a new one 
of theirs ? part of the oath made by Pope Pius after the 
council of Trent, If this be an article, prove it. If it be a 
truth and no novelty, which be fathers, and which not? 
help us to know certainly, when we have all or the unan- 
imous consent. Then tell us, whether every man is not 
forsworn with you, that interprets any text of Scripture 
before he have read all the fathers ; or any text which 
they do not tinanimously agree on? We can easily 
prove to you, that this is a new article •f your devising. 
Because else no man must expound any Scripture at all 
before those fathers were bom. For how could the 
church before them have their unanimous consent ? oth- 
erwise those fathers themselves wanted an article of 
faith ; nnless it was an article to them, that they must 
expound no Scripture but by their own consent. Few 
of those fathers expound the twentieth part of the Scrip- 
ture. They took liber^ to disagree among themselves. 



JU60L1N0. 351 

and therefore do not unanimously consent in abundance 
of particular texts. They tell us that they are fallible, 
and bid us not take it on their trdst. The apostles have 
left us no such rule or precept, but much to the contrary. 
Your own doctors, for all their oath, charge the fathers 
with error and misexpounding Scripture. Canus and 
many others charge Cajetan, a cardinal and pillar in 
your church, with making it his practice to differ from 
the fathers, and choosing expositions purposely for the 
novelty; as his custom. And when he hath highly ex- 
tolled Cajetan, Loc, TheoLlib,?. he adds; " yet his 
doctrine was defiled with a leprosy of errors, by an af- 
fection and lust of curiosity, or confidence in his wit, 
expounding Scripture as he list ; more acutely than 
happily : because he regarded not ancient tradition, and 
was not versed in the reading of the fathers, and would 
not learn from them the mysteries of the sealed book." 
He also blames him, that he always followed the Hebrew 
and Greek text. Many Papists are blamed for the 
same faults. Andradius, and others plead for it. Yet 
those men are counted members of your church, that 
go against an article of your new faith and oath. 

Transubstantration is one of your new articles in that 
oath. Dp We make anew one now if we reject it? 
Or need we be put to prove the negative ? Albertinus 
hath done it unanswerably. 

Another of your articles is, that " it belongeth to 
your holy mother the church to judge of the true sense 
of Scripture. '' You mean the Roman church ; and that 
they must judge of it for all the Christian world. Prove 
this to be the ancient doctrine if you can. If we reject 
this novelty, are we innovators 1 or need we prove the 
negative? yet we can do it. Did Athanasius, Basil, 
Nazianzen, Nyssen, Aiigustin, Jerom, Chrysostom, £p- 
iphanius, and the rest of the fathers, send to Rome for 
the sense of the Scriptures which they expound ; or did 
they procure the pope's approbation before any of them 
published their commentaries ? 

The like may be said of all the rest of your new ar- 
ticles, and practices. Some of your novelties we 
mject as trifles, some as smaUer errors, and seme as 
groaler : but still we keep to our ancient faith, of whidi 



252 JSfuiT 

the Scripture is a full and mifficieot rule, as Vmeentiiia 
Lhruumsis sailh, though we are glad of all helps to on- 
derstand it. We say with Tertullian de came Christie 
cap. 6. ^* Nothing depends upon it, because Scriptare 
does not exhibit it.: — They prove it not, because it is not 
written. — Those #ho thus argue we resist." 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Popif & to«nl tf CkarUif. 

Another of their deceits is this: They take ad' 
vantage of our charitable judgment of them, and of 
their uncharitable judgment of us and all other Chris- 
tians, to affright and intice people to their sect. . They 
say, that we cannot be saved, nor any that are not of 
the Roman church : but we say, that a Papist may be 
saved. They say, that we want abundance of the arti- 
cles of faith that are of necessity to salvations We say, 
that the Papists hold all that is necessary to salvation. 
Luther saith, that the kernel of true faith is yet in the 
church of Rome; therefore say- they, let Protestemts 
take the shell. Hence they make the simple people 
believe, that even according to our own confessions, 
their church and way is safer than ours. 

Vergerius Opera, pa^t 230, says; " That great good 
the truth doth not flow from the Papacy, but from the 
true church of Christ persecuted by Rome." 

1. The Papists' denying the faith and salvation of all 
other Christians doth not invalidate our faith, nor shake 
our salvation. Our religion doth not cease to be true, 
whenever a peevish adversary will deny or accuse it. 
Men are in never the more danger of damnation, be- 
cause a Papist tells them that they shall be damned. 
We believe not that the pope hath the power of the keys 
of heaven, that he can keep out whom he please. We 
have a promise of salvation from Christ, and we can 
bear the threatening of a pOpe. When Bellarmin judged- 
Pope Bixtus damned himself, it is strange that he shmdd 
have a power before to dispose of heaven to others, and 



jvoaLXNo. 5^53 

tiut out whom he [leased, that must be shut out him- 
elf. The Novatians, Donatists, or any sect, that held 
ie substance of the Christian faith, might have pleaded 
[lis argument as well as the Papists. For they also 
rave the courage to pass the sentence of damnation upon 
•thers, if that will serve turn : and we have the charity 
o say, that some of them may be saved. 

2. If by the Papists' own confession, charity be the 
ife of all the graces or holy qualities of the soul, and 
hat which above all others proveth a man to be justified, 
ind in a state of salvation, then judge by this argument 
)f their own, whether our charitableness or their unchar- 
tableness be the better sign, and whether it be safer to 
oin with the charitable or the uncharitable? yea with 
hem that are so notoriously uncharitable, as to condemn 
he far greatest part of the church of Christ merely be- 
:ause they are not Papists ? 

3. When we say, that a Papist may be saved, it is 
vith all these limitations : that a Papist as a Christian 
nay be' saved, but not as a Papist. As a man that 
lath the plague may live ; but not by the plague ; that 
?opery is a great enemy and hindrance to men's salva- 
ion ;• and therefore that those among them that are 
aved, must be saved from Popery and not hy it ; that 
herefore salvation is a rarer thing among the Papists, 
ban among the reformed catholics. Where it is most 
lifficult, it is like to be most rare. Many n^ore of the 
orthodox are likely to be saved than of the Papists ; be- 
ause where Popery prevaileth against Christianity, and 
o much mastereth the heart and life, that the Christian 
loctrine is not practically received, th6re is no salvation 
be had for such, without conversion. Thus is it that 
re say a Papist may be save^. Hunnius wrote a book 
prove tbem no Christian^/ and Perkins hath written 
nother to prove, that a Papist cannot go beyond a rep- 
obate.^ I must needs say so too» of alt those in whom 
^opery is predominant practically, and overcometh 
Christianity, But yet I doubt not, but God hath thous- 
.ikb. among them that shall be saved : oi the common 
leople that are forced to forbear contradicting ^e priests. 
Ad that understand not, or receive not all the mysteries 
f ^ir deceit : and practically give themselves to a 

22 



854 jEiuiT 

holy life. Though I have known none such, yet when 
I read the writings of Gerson, Kempis, Thauler, Ferus, li 
Barbanson, Benedictus, Anglus^ Renty^and such others; 
though I see much of error, and mere affec^tation ; yet 
I am easily persuaded to believe, that they had the Spirit k 
of God, and that there are many more such among k 
them. But I should be sorry if holiness were not much ji 
more common among us, and freer from the mixtures of 
error and affectation. 

4. For our saying, that they have the kernel, and so 
much as is necessary to salvation, it is true, but it b the i 
same kernel that we hold, and we have it undefiled and i 
unpoisoned ; and the Papists mix it with the venom of n 
their errors. He that hath all things in his meat and ^ 
drink that I have in mine, may yet make it worse than >{ 
mine, if he will put poison in it. When you have all a 
things necessary in a precious antidote or other medicine^ i 
you may soon mar all, by putting in more as the Pa- u 
pists do. . ' \ 

Christianity is enough to. save them that mar it not, 
but keep it practically and predominantly. Even as a 
man that takes poison, and he that taketh none, are both 
of them tnen; and he that takes the poison may be said 
to have all the same parts and menabers as the other, 
and yet not be so likely to live, as he that lets it alone : 
and I cannot say but many that take it may recover : 
and if )'ou ask me ; which be they ? I say, all those that 
timely cast it up again, or else whose strength of nature 
prevaileth against it and keepeth it from mastering the 
heart or vital powers, shall be recovered and live ; but 
those in whom the poison prevaileth and is predominant, 
shall die. So all those Papists that receive the errors 
of Popery, as either to cast them up again ; or that they 
are not predominant to the subduing of the power of 
Christian faith and holiness, by keeping them from be- 
ing sincere, and practical, and predominant, those shall 
. be saved but not the rest. 

Now if upon those grounds, any man shall think that 
Popery is the safer way, because we say, that they have 
all that is necessary to salvation, objectively in their 
creed, and that a Papist may be saved ; upon the same 
terms that man may be persuaded that it is safer taking 



JuooLiMo. 5255 

poison, because that he hath all the parts of a man that 
takes it, and possibly nature may pi^vail, €Uid he may 
live. But yet I shall let the poison alone. 

5. Papists that say, that a Protestant cannot be saved, 
do yet maintain that an infidel may be saved, or one 
tliat believeth not the articles of the Christian faith* 
You will think this strange. But I insist on the proof 
of it, to the uses, that you may see, that their censures 
proceed from mere design or partiality ; that they make 
believing in the pope to be more necessary than believ- 
ing in Christ, or in the Holy Ghost; how holy their 
churc^h is that admitteth of infidels ; — on what grounds 
they deny, that we may be one catholic church with the 
fathers, Greeks, Egyptians, Abassines, Armenians, Wal- 
denses, &c. because of some differences ; when yet they 
themselves can be one church with infidels, or such as 
deny the articles of the creed, or at least believe them 
not ; and how well their religion hangs together, and 
also how well they are agreed among themselves, even 
about the essentials of Christianity itself, whether they 
be of necessity to salvation or hot. 

Franc, a Sancta Clara in his Deus, Natura, Crra- 
UGj Problem. 15, et 16, tells us ; " The- doctors com- 
monly teach, that a just and probable ignorance ought to 
excuse : and that, it is probable, when one hath a prob- 
ablo foundation or ground. As a countryman, when he 
believes that a thing is lawful, drawn by the testimony of 
his parish priest or parents : or when a man seeing rea- 
sons that are probable on both sides, doth choose those 
which seem to him the more probable ; which y^ indeed 
are against the truth, to which he is otherwise well af- 
fected, , In this case he erreth without fault, though he 
err against the truth, and so labor of the contrary Igno- 
rance. Hither is it to be reduced, when the articles of 
faith are not propounded in a due manner; as by fri- 
volous reasons, or by impious men : for then to believe, 
were an act of imprudence, saith Aquinas L. 2. q. 1. 

So that if the truth of Scripture be so propounded as 
to seem most improbable, it is no sin to disbelieve it: 
and if sucli are excused, as by a parent or parish priest 
are seduced, and that have not a due proposal of the 



t56 JE8VIT 

truth ; then it must follow, that the heathens and mfidels 
are innocent, that never had Christ proposed any way 
to them, and by their parents have been taught Mo- 
hammedanism, or Paganism. But I can prove, that even 
the want of a due proposal is a punishment for their sin? 
and that they ought themselves to seek after the truth! 
and that it is of their own sins that necessary truths do 
seem improbable to them? will sin excuse sini 

He also telleth as; *' As to the ignorance of things ne- 
cessary as means to salvation, the doctors differ: for Soto 
4. d. 5. q. 5 ; and lib. de natur. et grat. c. 12 ^ and Vega 1. 6. 
c. 20. will have no more explicit faith required now in 
the law of grace, than in the law of nature. Vega and 
Gabriel d. 21. qu. 2. art. 3. and 3. d. 21. qu.2. think; 
that in the law of nature, and in many cases, In the law 
of grace, a man may be saved with only natural know- 
ledge, and that the habit of faith is not required. Hor- 
antius, being of the contrary opinion, saith, that they are 
men of great name that are against him, whose gravity 
and great and painful studies moved him, not to condemn 
them of heresy, in a doubtful matter not yet judged." 
happy Rome that hath a judge that can put an end to 
all their controversies ! And yet cannot determine 
whether it be necessary to salvation to be a Christian ! 

Alvarez de Auxil, disp, .56, with others, seems to 
hold, that to justification is not required the knowledge of 
a supernatural object at all. Others say that both to 
grace and to glory an explicit faith in Christ is necessa- 
ry, Bonavent. 3. d. 25. Others say that to salvation at 
least an explicit faith in the Gospel, or Christ is requir- 
ed, though not to grace or justification. And this is 
the commoner in the schools, as Herera declared and 
folio we th it. 

Clara saith; I take Scotus to be of that opinion, that 
it is not necessary as a means to grace or glory to have 
an explicit belief of Christ or the Gospel ; as he seems 
at large to prove. Lib. 4. Di$t. 3. Quest. 4. 

What is clearer, than that at this day, the Gospel 
bindeth not, where it is not authentically preached ; that 
is, that at this day men may be saved without an ex- 
plicit belief of Christ : for in that sense speaks the doc- 
tor concerning the Jews. And verily, whatever Scotus 



bold witk his wicked master Herera, I think that this 
was the opinion of Scotus, and the common one; which 
also Vega a faithful Scotist followeth ; and Faher 4. d. d^ 
Petigianis S. d. 25. q. 1, and of the Thomists, Bannes, 
22. q. 2. a 8. Canus and others. 

He also gathers it to be the mind of the council of 
Trent, Ses. 6. cap. 4. It is effectually proved by the 
doctor^ from John xv. If I had not come and spoke to 
them, they had ndt had sin. I know the doctors of the 
contrary opinion answer, that such are not condemned 
for the sin of infidelity precisely, but for other sins that 
hinder the illumination and special help of Grod. But 
verily the doctor there argueth, that the Jews might by 
circumcision be cleansed from original sin, and saved 
without the Gospel : and accordingly he may argue, as 
to all others to whom the Gospel is not authentically 
promulgated : else his reason would not hold. Corduba 
L 2. qu, Theol. q. 5, subscribes to this opinion, saying 
— since the promulgation of the Gospel, an explicit 
belief of Christ is ncessary : except with the invincibly 
ignorant, to whom an implicit sufHceth to the life of grace : 
but whether it suffice to the life of glory, is a pro- 
blem ; but it is more probable that here also an implicit 
snfficeth. To which opinion consent both Medina de 
recta in Deum fide^ lib. 4. cap, ulL and Bradwardin 
foL 6/ii that an implicit belief of Christ is sufficient to 
salvation. 

Clara also*saith ; ** this is the way to end the debates 
of them that think ihe articles of the trinity, of Christ, of 
the incarnation, &c. are neccessary to salvation, though 
not to justification: and answering them, he saith that 
such are not formally without thexhurch. You see then 
formally, inidels are in their churchy and may be saved, 
in his opinion. 

After a blow at Yellosillus, be citeth also Victoria 
Relict, 4. d^ Indis, et Richard, de Med, Villa, 3. 25 
att. 3. qu. 1 ; and others for this opinion : and tells you 
what his implicit faith is; " to believe as the church be- 
lieveth;" 

From Scotus he answers the question, whether such 
persons may hold ,the contrary error to the truth that 
they are, ignorant of? and saith, No; while it is preach- 

22* 



SS8 JBsiriT 

ed but in some one place: till he know it to be believed 
as a truth by the church, and thep he must firmly ad- 
here to it« Which the charitable fnar applieth to Eng- 
land, as excusable for not beleiving some of their arti- 
cles» And he citeth Petigianis saying^ ; " If a simple 
old woman shall hear a false opinion from a false prophet, 
a» that the substance of the bread remains with Christ's 
body in the Eucharist, and believe it: doth she sin be- 
cause of this t No : this were too hard and cruel to af- 
firm." 

He citeth Anglus, and agreeth with him, that, ^' such 
as have no knowledge of those things to stir them up, 
are not bound so much as to seek information.'' 

Vega lib, 6. cap. 18, says ; that as ignorance of pure 
denial about many aiticles of faith may be without fauh: 
so there is the same reason of ignorance from depraved dis- 
positions. Which he maintains against Gerson and 
Hugo. Clara adds ; " To speak my sense fi*eely, I 
think that the common people committing themselvs to 
the instruction of the pastors, trusting their knowledge 
and goodness, if they be deceived, it shall be accounted 
invincible ignorance, or probable at least : so Herera : 
which excuse ih from fault. Yea some doctors give so 
much to the instruction of doctors on whom the care of 
the flock lieth, that if they teach that God should be 
hated, a rude parishioner is bound to believe them. 
Whence he concludeth, that he hopeth many of us are 
saved; to which he citeth the consent of Azorius, To. 
1. L 8. fust, c. 6, and Corduba. He also says ; "It 
seemeth to be the common opinion of the schools and 
doctors at this day, that the laity, erring with their teach- 
ers or pastors, are altogether excused from fault: yea by 
erring thus many ways materially^ they merit, for the 
act of Christian obedience, which they owe their teach- 
ers, as Valentia saith ; Tom 3. disp. 1. q, 2. Anglus, 
Vasquez^ Spc. 

Cajetan cites Zanchez, teaching ; that those that are 
brought up among heretics are not to be accounted he- 
retics, till they refuse belief sufficiently propounded to 
them. Alph. a Castro, Simancha, Arragon, Tanner, 
and Faber say the same. 

Eman. Sa, affirms ; ** even among catholics many are 



( 



jirooLiNo. 259 

excused frdm the explicit knowledge of the trinity and 
Incarnation, specially if there want a teacher. For 
what ! shall we say that an infinite number of Christians, 
otherwise good people, perish, that scarce know any 
thing aright of the mystery of the trinity and incarnation ; 
yea judge perversly or falsely of them, if you ask themi 
RosBella and Medina are of the same mind ; and Yalen- 
tia Analys, fid, lib, 2. cap. 3. lit, D, 

In the sixteenth problem he puts another question, 
whether the law of nature and the decalogue may be un- 
known without fault? to which he answers; that though 
'^ Alex. Ales says, no : yet it is the common and receiv- 
ed opinibn, citing Adrian, Corduba, Herera, and others, 
that there may be such invincible ignorance in respect 
of the law of nature and the decalog-ue.". 

That which they call an implicit faith in Christ is no 
actual faith in Christ at all. He that only believes as 
the church believes, and knows not that the church be- 
lieves in Christ, in the resurrection oi Christ, &c., hath 
no actual belief in Christ or the resurrection at all. If 
I believe, that one of you is true in his word ; it doth 
not follow, that I actually believe the particular propO'- 
sitions. which I never heard. That which they call an 
implicit belief, is nothing but the explicit actual belief ^ 
of the formal object of faith, divine or human ; as that 
God is true, or the church true and infallible ; but it is 
uo belief at all of the particular material object. 

Every one in the world that beiieveth that there is a 
God, must needs believe that he is no liar ; and so hath 
in God an implicit belief. Now if this will save men, 
without t particular belief in Christ, then Christianity is 
not necessary. Every Turk, and Jew, and infidel that 
beiieveth in God, may then be said to have an implicit 
faith in Christ, in the Popish language ; because he be- 
iieveth all that God revealeth to be true : but if an im- 
plicit faith in God will not serve, how should an implicit 
faith in the church serve ; unless the church, that is the 
pope^, be better than God. 

By a general council and the pope it is determihed 
that no man can be saved out of their church, ad headed 
by Ae pope. To believe in the pope b of necessity to 
salvation; bnt to believe in Christ, in his incarnation, 



960 JMiriT 

death, ret nrrectioii, is not so. An implieit faith in the 
pope or church, yea or errinff doctors may save, and 
men may merit by following mem in. error : but an im- 
plicit faith in God himself will not save, if we believe 
not in the pope. So that if we were infidels we might 
be saved, if we were of the chorch of Rome, and be- 
lieved in the pope : but the holiest Christian that be- 
lieveth explicitly in God and all the articles of faith, can- 
not be saved, if he believe not in the pope. . Do you 
think they believe those doctrines themselves 1 or raUier 
frame them to the building of their kingdom 1 

What a wonder is it that learned doctors see not their 
own contradiction? They suppose a man to believe in 
the pope, or as the church believeth, and yet not to be- 
lieve in Christ!, and is not the church essentially a com- 
pany of Christians ; the spouse, and body, and school, 
and kingdom of Christ ? and is not the pope essentially 
the pretended vicar of Christ. How then can they be- 
lieve in Christ's vicar, or Christ's school, or kingdom, or 
followers, before they believe in Christ himself! 

By all this you may perceive the holiness of the Ro- 
man church, and the nature of that discipline or church 
government that all the world must needs submit to, or be 
damned. Even sach as takes in infidels and all, and 
layeth the church as common to the world, for as many 
as will but believe in the pope and his priests. 

You see here also another mystery opened : that a 
man may have enough to justify him, that yet wiU not 
save him. For most of them are here said to hold that 
a man may be justified without an explicit faith in Christ, 
or that the knowledge of Christ is not necessary to his 
justification, but to his salvation it is: though the other 
half say that it is necessary to neither. If a man die 
in a justified state, must he be condemned ? When Paul 
saith, {lom. 8. 30. Whom he justified them he also gb- 
rified ? 

You see also here what their baptism doth, that can 
ex opere operato infallibly put away the sins of all those 
infidels, and so the Euclmrist, &c. And yet they must 
not be saved although their sins are all done away. 
what a maze is the Romish divinity ! j'ou see how well 
they are agreed about those fundamentals, when half of 



JUGGLING. 261' 

them thinkf that " actual belief in Christ is necessary to 
salvation, and not to justification : and others that it is 
necessary to both : and a greater part that it is necessa- 
ry to neither. " You also see here the benefit of hav- 
ing an infallible living judge of controversies, and ex- 
|>punder of Scriptures : and how admirably he hath end- 
ed all their differences. 

If formally those unbelievers are in their catholic 
church 5 then^the Greeks and other Eastern and South- 
em Christians are in the same catholic church as we are, 
when we differ not so much. 

When they have made the non- belief of articles of 
the faith consistent with salvation ; they will never while 
they breathe be able to confute him that on the same 
grounds afiirmeth the contrary belief consistent with 
salvation, in the case of the same want of teaching and 
sufficient means. 

You see therefore of how small moment the Popish 
censures are, when they judge that a Protestant cannot 
be saved. 

Clara judgeth otherwise. But his book was burnt 
or condemned at Rome for it ; and thereby proveth him- 
self a heretic, seeing a general council and pope have 
determined the contrary, even that it is necessary to sal- 
vation to be a subject of tl^e Pope of Rome. 



' CHAPTER XXIX. 

Popery encourages hitman depravity. 

Another of their deceits, and the most successful of 
all the rest is this ; They suit their doctrines and gov- 
ernment and worship to the jleshly humors of the ungod- 
ly : by which means the greatest and the most are aU 
ways on their side. Our doctrine, discipline and wor- 
ship are all so contrary to carnal interest and conceits, 
that we are still likely to lose the most and the greatest 
and consequently to be a persecuted people in the world. 
This is their unanswerable argument. By this means 
they captivate the nations to their tyranny. The most 



M2 JESUIT j 

are every where sensual, worldly and nnsanctified. Wise 
men and godly men are few in comparison of the rest of 
the world. It is the multitude commonly who have the 
strength, and the great ones who have the wealth. So 
that I take it for a wonder of mercy, that they are not 
lords in every country, that the reformed catholics be 
not used every where as they be in Spain in Italy. For 
where they have but opportunity to shew themselves, 
the principles and practices of the Papbts are such, as 
will be most likely to win the rabble rout to them, and 
make them masters of the multitude, and of all except 
a few believing heavenly persons : for the flock is little 
that must have the kingdoiti. Then, when they have 
got the multitude thus to follow them, and clubbed the 
rest into prisons, or burned them in the flames, they 
reckon that as one of the surest evidences that they are 
the catholic church ; because forsooth they are the 
greater number in the countries where they have ad- 
vantage, and it is but a few whom they were able to 
persecute or burn as heretics that were against them. 
The very argument of the Jews against Christ and his 
disciples. 

The reasons why they have not by this policy won 
the Christian world to their side, under God the great 
defender of the innocent, are these : Because in the 
Eastern and Southern churches they have not had op- 
portunity to lay their snares, as they have had here in 
the West: and also tliose churches have too many cor- 
ruptions and neglects at home for the gratifying of the 
worse sort. Because God hath been pleased in some 
places to bless the endeavors of the smaller part, as to 
enable them against the multitude to preserve some lib- 
erty. Because God hath sometimes given wise and godly 
princes to the people, that will not be cheated with the 
popular deceits. And because the papal tyranny is di- 
rectly contrary to the rights of princes, so that it is only 
those that are blinded by ignorance, or strengthened by 
an extraordinary league with Rome, or forced by the 
multitude of popish subjects and neighbors, that put 
their necks into the Romish yoke. For by the popes 
pretended power in temporals, and by his excommunica- 
ting princes, and his pretended power to depose them, 



jirooLiNG. 1^63 

and give their kingdoms to others, so as to absolve their 
jsubjects from ther oaths and fidelity, which is an article 
of their faith agreed on by the pope and general coun- 
cil. Later, sub, Innoc, 3. cap, 3 : and by his exempting 
the clergy from their prinCes' power ; and by the pillag- 
ing their countries for money ; and by their doctrine 
and practices of mui'dering princes who are not of their 
mind: and by other evidences, they have awakened 
many of the princes of the earth to look about them, 
and consequently to befriend the truth against those 
tyrannous usur^ ers. Had it not been for those helps 
under God, we should not have had liberty to breath in 
the common air. 

That all the doctrines, government, and worship of 
the papists are suited to the humor and sensual multi- 
tude, and fitted to take with ungodly men, I shall prove 
in twenty particulars. 

1. The reformed catholics hold, that none should be 
taken into the church, unless they make profession of 
the Christian faith, and of an holy life, for the time to 
come, and seem to understand what they say and do, 
and be serious in it ; which exasperateth the grossly 
ignorant and Ungodly, when we deny them this privi- 
ledge of believers. But the Papists admit of the igno- 
rant ungodly, and such as believe not in Christ, and fill 
their antichristian community. 

2. The orthodox hold, that Baptism seals remission 
of sin to none but true believers and their seed. The 
Papists persuade sinners that all their sins are not only 
pardoned, but actually abolished, ex opere operato 
in baptism ; which is comfortable news to such ungodly 
souls. 

3. Protestants say, that original sin liveth after bap- 
tism in some degree ; though it reign not, or condemn 
not those that are true believers i and that concupis- 
cence, that is, aU inordinacy of the sensual appetite, 
or inordinate inclination to sensual objects, is ia sin. 
The Papists tell them that when once they are baptised, 
there is no such thing in them as original sin, and that 
concopiscence is no sin at all. 

4. The orthodox hold, that none are to be admitted to the 
eacbarist, and communion of the church therein, bnt 




164 JESUIT 

those that hdiere actually, or profess so to do, the arti- 
cles of faith, and understuid the nature of the sacramem, 
and live according to the law of Chtist. But the Papists 
give it to all, and drive men to the sacrament ; so that 
Albaspin«us saith, he knows not whether ever any one 
was kept away in his age. 

5. Protestants hold, that men are not to be let alone 
in scandalous sin ; but admonished privately, and then 
openly before the church, and if yet they repent not, tQ 
be cast out ; and not to be absolved or re-admitted, 
without a public confession and penitence answerable 
to the sin: and this wicked (^ople hate at their very 
heart, and will not endure. But the Papists have got a 
device to please them, by auricular secret confession to 
a priest, where if he will but confess and sin, and sin and 
confess again, he may have pardon of course without 
any open shame or true reformation. If we durst but 
imitate the Papists in this one particular, we should do 
much to please the people that are now exasperated : for 
almost any of them will confess in secret that, they have 
sinned, that will not endure the open shame. 

6. Protestants hold, that every sin deservetli death, 
and that every breach of the law is such a sin ; though 
God will not inflict the punishment on them that have a 
pardon. But the Papists tell us of a multitude of sins that 
are but venial, that is, sins that deserve pardon, and not 
hell, and are indeed no sins, but analogically so called. 
And they make those to be venial sins, which are prop- 
erly no sins : all sins that are not deliberated on, are 
with them but venial sins. So that if they will but 
sufficiently brutify themselves by suspending the exer- 
cise of reason, and will swear, curse, murder, without 
deliberation, they are then free from sin and danger. 
How easy and pleasing is this to the ungodly 1 Those are 
but evangelical counsels with the Papists, that are the 
precepts or laws of Christ to the Protestants. 

7. Protestants teach men that it is their duty to-seek 
the understanding of the Holy Scripture, and to medi- 
tate in it day and night. But Papists forbid the com- 
mon people to read it in a language which they under- 
stand, and save diem all that labor that Protestants put 
them on. Nothing can win the people more than 
cherishing them thus in sloth and ignorance. 



JuooLiNo. 265 

& Protestants say, that a man caniK>t be justified or 
saved without actual faith in Chrbt, and that this faith 
must extend to all things that are essential to Christian- 
ity. But Papists affirm the justification and salvation 
[>f infidels, if they believe in the pope. A comfortable 
doctrine to the unbelieving world, to whom God hath 
spoken no such comfort. 

We confess that those that never had the Gospel, 
are under the law of nature or works, and under such a 
law of grace as was made to Adam and Noah in the 
substance, as to the obligation and the ofiers of it, and 
that by such a law they shall be judged, but of the jus- 
tification of Christians we have clear and certain prom- 
ises. 

9. Protestants say^ that all ourbest works are imperfect, 
and the sin that adhere th to them deserves God's wrath, 
according to the law of works, though he pardon it by 
the law of grace, and that when we have done all we 
are unprofitable servants, and properly merit nothing of 
God, for the worth of our works or in commutative jus- 
tice. But the Papists take those very works to merit 
beayen ex Condigno ; and som^ of them, say by the 
proportion of the work and In commutative justice ; 
which the Protestants declare, deserve damnation for 
their sinful imperfections, and therefore need a pardon 
through the blood of Christ* Yet they take those works 
to be perfect, and the man to be perfect, and say, that by 
such works as those, they may merit for others as well 
as for themselves. How easy and pleasing is this to 
proud corrupted nature ! 

10. Protectants think, that no fiiith justifieth ; but 
that which is accompanied with unfeigned love and 
resolution for obedience. But the Papists make a faith 
that is separated from charity, and joined with attrition, 
to be sufficient for admission tD the sacrament, which 
shall be instead of love or contrition, and so shall put 
away all sin. 

11. Protestants knowing that Gbd ts a spirit, and 
will be worshipped in spirit and in truth, teach people 
a sfMritual i^ray of worship, to which carnal men are 
iadisppsed. But Papists accommodate them with a 
multuude of ceremonies, images, and a pompous his- 

23 



t66 JB8VIT 

trionical kind of worship, which is easy and pleasant I 
to flesh and blood. To hare an image before them, \ 
and copes, and ornaments, and abundance of formal!- . 
ties, and to drop so many beads, and be saved fOT say- 
ing oyer so many Ave Maries, or such like worcb; 
what an easy kind of religion is that, and how agreea- 
ble to flesh and blood/ how much easier is it to say 
oyer their offices than to love God above all, and desire 
communion with him in the spirit, and to delight 
in him, and to pray in faith, and heavenly fervor ? 

12. Protestants tell men of hell-fire, as the remedi- 
less punishment of those sins, which Papists say deserve 
but a purgatory : and they have hope of coming out of 
purgatory, but there is none of coming out of hell. 

13. Protestants tell them of no hope of ease or par- 
don of sin after this life, if it be not pardoned here. 
But Papists tell them, that when they are in purgatory | 
the pope hath power to pardon them, and the saying of ! 
so many masses for their souls may ease them or rid | 
them out, aod the merits of other folks may deliver 
them. 

14. Protestants tell them, that they must be holy for 
themselves. But Papists tell them, that they may hire 
another man to say their prayers for them, which may 
serve their turn. 

15. Protestants ingenuously confess, that they have 
no way to end all controversies in this life : but that 
we have a sufficient way so far to decide them, as is 
necessary to the peace of the soul, of the church, and 
of the commonwealth; but no way for a final absolute 
decision, till the day of judgment. Pastors of the 
.church are to be judges, so far as they are to execute : 
and Magistrates are to be judges, so &r as they 
must execute : and every christian hath a judgment of 
discerning, so far as he is to execute : but the absolute 
final judgment is reserved to the last day, when God 
will fuHy end all otir controversies. That satisfieth net 
men who would have all in hand, and the sentence 
pest before the assizes. Therefore Papists tell them of 
an end of all their controversies at hand ; of an easy 
cheap remedy by believing the infitllible pope aoa 
council, and so putting an end io all diyisions aod 
doubts. 



lUOOLINO. S(57 

16. Protestants would have none but professing 
saints in their churches. But Papists canonize a saint 
as a wonder, and shut them up in monasteries, and call 
a tew, religious, who are separated from other Chris- 
tians, as Christians formerly were from the world. 
Which brings the people to think that holiness and 
religion are not necessary to all, but to a few devotees 
chat will be better than they are commanded to~ be. 

17. Protestants bind men to keep their vows, and 
fidelity to their governors. But Papists tell them that 
the pope hath power to free them firom their fidelity, 
and dispense with their oaths. 

18. Papists teach men to fast: by eating th« pleas- 
antest meats. But Protestants use a total abstinence 
while they fast. 

19. The main business and administration of Prot- 
estant pastors, is against that flesh that is unregenerate^ 
and therefore must needs be distasteful to the multitude 
of the ungodly.. Our preaching is to open men's sin 
and misery, and cause them to perceive their lost con- 
dition, and so to reveal to them^ crucified Christ and 
then to set them on the holy self-denying heavenly life 
that Christ liath prescribed them: to speak terror to 
Che rebellious, and to cast the obstinate out of our com- 
munion, and to comfort none as the heirs of heaven, 
either in life or death, but only the truly sanctified and 
renewed souls. The preaching of Papists is but sel- 
dom ; but they have a mass in Latin, and the old say- 
ing is ; "The mass doth not bite:" it galleth not a guilty 
conscience to see a mass and hear prayers which he 
understandeth not. When they do preach, they flatter 
and deceive men by their false doctrine. They cannot 
humble them in the sense of their original sin and mis- 
ery ; for that they tell them was quite extinct and done 
away in baptism : and for their following sins, absolu- 
tion upon their customary confessions, hath dc^e away 
all the guilt at least. Bo that here is no misery foT the 
miserable souls to see ; unless perhaps some gross ac- 
tual sin be apparent among them, and then they shall 
have an oration against it, to drive them to auricular 
confession and to receive the body of Christ and be 
absolved. Thus do they by ceremonies quiet the con- 



«|68 JB8VXT i 

sciences of unsanctified nen, and humor them in all 
their rites and cnstoms, and at last turn them to heaven \ 
or purgatory with ah absolution and extreme unction. 
How pleasing a religion that is to the ungodly people, 
those ministers can tell, that see the rage of such against \ 
those that deny them even better forms and ceremonies 
when they desire them to pacify their consciences in- 
stead of real holiness and obedience. 

20. The Jesuits have fitted their whole frame of moral 
doctrine and case-divinity to humor the unconscionable. 
Those that would escape any worldly trouble or dan- 
ger, the Jesuits have a help at hand for, even their doc- 
trine of equivocation, and mental reservation, which 
makes the pope^s dispensation with oaths and promises 
needless. What accommodations they have for him 
that hath a mind to murder his adversary, to calumni- 
ate another, to forbear restoring ill-sfotten goods, to com- 
mit fornication, to rob another, and many the like, you . 
may see in their own books ; and what comfort they 
have for a man that loveth not God, so he will not hate 
him. Mystery of Jestntism. 

So we see the advantage that Papists have to sweep 
away the vicious ignorant multitude, and then to boast 
that they are the catholics, and we but schismatics, 
because they are the greater part: and. then they are 
armed also by the multitude, to oppress us by their vio- 
lence. 

Now the only remedy to use against this fraud, is 
to deal plainly and faithfully, though it displease, and to 
administer God's ordinances as he prescribeth, though 
never so distasteful to flesh and blood ; and so to com- 
mit ourselves to God, and trust him with his church 
and cause, who is able to preserve it, and is most en- 
gfaged to appear for us when we lay all upon him, and 
have none to trust but himself alone. Let us not hearken 
in this case to flesh and blood that would advise us to 
remit the reins of discipline, and to bend our adminis- 
trations to some pleasing compliance with carnal minds. 
We disengage God when thus we begin to shift for our- 
selves out of his way. HalFs ** Quo vadinf^ Censure of 
Travel 



CHAPTER XXX, 

Popish fidu aUegaHons, 

An^tmer of their frauds is this: Tkefcull out all 
the harsh unhandsome passagss, or mistakes that thef 
meet with in any Protestant writers^ and charge aH 
those upon the Protestant religion; as if they were so 
many articles cf our faiths or at least were the common 
doctrines ofov/r churches. 

They wilLnot give us leave to do so by them, when 
we have much more reason for it They teach the 
people, that they are bound to believe as their teachers 
bid them : and they reproach us for confessing, that we 
are not in all points of doctrine infallible. Yet we 
still' confess this fallibility, and say in plain terms, that 
we know but in part. Divers of their particular doc- 
tors that we cite, are such as the pope hath canonized 
for saints : and they tell us that in canonizing he is in- 
fallible. And therefore an infallibly canonized saint 
must not be supposed to err in a point of faith. They 
boast so much of unity and consent among themselves, 
that we may the better cite particular doctors. And 
yet we think ourselves bound to stand to their own law 
in«this, and to charge nothing on them as their faith, 
but what their church doth own. Therefore while 
they refuse to stand to particular doctors, we will not 
urge them to it: for all tnen should be the professors 
of their own belief 

But what reason is there then that we may not have 
the same measure from them which they expect? We 
broless to take no man, nor council of men, for the 
lords of our faith, but for the helpers of our faith. They 
tell us, that they know not where to find our religion. 
We assure them that it is entirely in the written word 
of God, and that we know no other infallible rule ; be- 
cause we know no other divine revelation. They tell 
us ; " all heretics do pretend to Scripture, and there* 
fore that cannot be the test of our religion? I answer 
that so all cavillers, and defrauders may pretend to the 
law of the land to undo poor men by quirks of wit, or 

^3» 



«0 .1JW«IT 

m 

lire them with rexatious suits: and yet it follows not 

that we must seek another rule of right, and take the \^ 

Uw for insufficient. What if heretics pretend to tia- I3, 

dition, to general councils, and the decretals of the p, 

popes, as frequently they do, will you yield therefore ^ 
that those are an insufficient rule, or test of your own 

religion ? Open your eyes and judge as ye would be g 

judged. \ ^ - r ^ 

But I come to some of the parUcuIar opinions with , 
which they charge us. And because I know not a more , 
weighty renowned champioA of their cause than Cardi- | 
nal Richlieu I shall take notice of hb twelve great errors, ^ 
which he so vehemently chargeth on the reformed 
churches, as contrary to the Scripture. I shall do much 
to make clean our churches, if I fully wipe off all the 
pretended blots of error, that so crafty a man could 
charge upon them. In his Defens, contra script 4. 
Ministr. Ckarenton, cap. 2., he thus be^ns his enumer- i 

ation. 

1. ^' The Scripture saith. Jam. 2, that a man is not 
justified by faith only : But you say, that he is justified 
by faith alone, and by faith only, which is found in no 
place of Scripture : and do you not then resist the Scrip- 
ture r' 

We believe both the words of Paul and James, that 
a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the l^aw, 
and saved through faith not of works, lest any man 
should boast, Rom. iii. 28. Ephes. ii. 8, 9 ; and also that 
a man is justified by works, and not by faith onl^, Jam.2. 
We believe all the Bible ? Why then should he charge 
us with denying that, which we retain and publicly 
read in our churches as the word of God 1 If he can 
prove that we understand not those words aright, he 
should have evinced it better than by the use of the 
words faith alone ; for our churches by faith alone, do 
profess openly to mean no more than Paul doth by faith 
without works : and can they find fault with Paull We 
are not all agreed upon the fittest notion of the interest 
of faith and works in our justification : but our difiference 
is more in words and notions than matter. Why do you 
not quarrel with your own Cardinal Contarenus and 
•Others who join with us in the doctrine of justification? 



JVoaLiNo. 271 

2. His secoad accusation is this, **The Scripture saith, 
that we can love God with all the heart. You say, that 
man can love God with all the heart, which is no where 
read in Scripture ; and yet do you not resist the Scrip- 
tures 1" 

. We distinguish between loving Ood with all the 
hearty as it signifieth the sincerity and predominant 
degree of love j and so every true Christian hath it : and 
as it signifieth some extraordinary degreee above this 
mete sincerity^ and so some eminent stronger christians 
have it: and as it signifieth the highest degree, which is 
oiir duty, and which excludeth all . sinful imperfection, 
and thus we say, that no man actually doth love God 
perfectly in this Ife; no|r do we think he speaks like a 
Christian, that dare say, ** Lord, I love thee so much, 
that I will not be beholden to thee to forgive the imper- 
fection of my love, or help me against any sinful imper- 
fection of it." Your own followers whom you admire 
as the highest lovers of God, do oft lament the imper- 
fections of their love. But now, if the question be only 
of the posse and not the act ; we say, that the natural 
power is in all, and the nominal power which is the 
habit is in the sanctified : but this moral power is not 
perfect itself, that is, of the highest degree, and without 
any sinful imperfection ; though yet it hath the perfec- 
tion of sincerity, and in some, the perfection of an emi- 
nent degree. 

3. His third accusation is this ; *^ The Scripture saith, 
that the eucharist is the body and blood of Christ, with 
the junction of those words that signify a true body and 
blood : you say that it is not Christ's body and ^lood, 
but only a figure, sign and testimony, which the Scrip- 
ture no where saith." 

The Scripture saith not, that it is his body and blood 
substantially, or by trapsubstantiation : and we say not, 
lEis you feign, that it is not his body and l)lood, but a 
figure, &c. For we say, that it is his body and blood 
sacramentally and representatively ; as he that person- 
titeth a king on some just account, is called a king : 
and as in actions of investiture and delivery, the deliv- 
ering of a key is the delivering of the house, and the 
delivery of a twig and turf is the delivery of the land. 



%f% JESiriT 

mnd the deliverer may say, take, this is my house, this 
is my land, which I delirer thee. If you be among 
many images in a room, you will not blame him timt 
saith, that is Peter, and that is Paul, and that is the 
Virgin Mary. The Scripture often calls it bread after 
the consecration ; which you condemn us for : therefore 
we are taught to call it so. The Scripture saith ; 1. Cor. 
X. 5, that Rock was Christ: and be saith, I am the 
door, John x. I am the true vine, John*xT. 1. David 
saith I am a worm and no man,^ Psalm xv. 6. We believe 
all this. But must we be therefore reproached, if we 
say that David wad a man; that the rock was Christ typ- 
ically ; that he was a vine and door metaphorically only ; 
and yet those are as plain as, ** this is my body and 
thb is my blood." 

4. His fourth accusation is this ; *' The Scripture 
saith, that baptism saveth us, and that we are cleansed 
and regenerated by the washing of water: on the con- 
trary you say, that baptism doth neither save as, nor 
regenerate us, but is only to us a symbol of salvation, 
and regeneration, which is no where said in Scripture." 

A childish contest about words 1 We say that two 
things go to our full possession of our state of regene^ 
ation, justification, and cleansing : one is our ftinda- 
mental right, which the promise of the Gospel gives 
us upon our heart-consent or covenant with God : the 
other is our solemn investiture. In regard to the for- 
mer, we are Christians, and regenerated and justified, 
before baptism. In regard to the latter, we are made 
Christians, regenerated, justified, saved, by baptism. 
This we commonly hold, and so never denied what 
you falsely say we deny. As a man is made a king 
by his coronation, that yet in a sort was one before: 
or as marriage makes them husband and wife by pub- 
lic solemnization ; that . were fundamentally so before 
by private covenant : or as possession is given by a key, 
or a twig and a turf, of that which a man had a right to 
before ; so are we solemnly invested with those bene- 
fits by baptism, which we had a ftindamental title to 
before. Do not your own writers confess this of a man 
that is baptised many years after he had faith and char- 
ity ? Do you think that Cornelius and the reet that 



JueoLiNo. 273 

had the Holy Ghost before baptism, Act. x. had not 
justification before ? Do you think that Constantine the 
great was unpardoned, unregenerate and no Christian 
Sll he was baptised? Or would you quarrel against 
your own confessions ? 

5. His fifth accusation is this . " Scriptuie saith, that 
priests do forgive sin : on the contrary you say that 
they do not remit them, but only testify that they are 
remitted, which the Scriptures no where say." 

We say, that whose sins the pastors of the church 
remit, they are remitted. Pastors as God's embassa- 
dors, do proclaim his general conditional pardon unto 
all. They are God's ministers to make a particular 
application, and delivery of pardon in baptism ; on 
supposition that the baptised be qualified for pardon. 
They are, as his ministers, to make the same applica- 
tion by declaration and delivery in the absolution of 
the penitent ; on suposition that their penitence be sin- 
cere. As church governors, they may sometimes re- 
mit some humbling disgraceful acts, that were imposed 
on the penitent for the testification of his repentance, 
and the satisfaction of the church. And are not those 
four concessions enough ? ^or are you minded to pick 
fuel for the rancor and uncharitableness of your minds ? 
We do not think that any man can primarily as 
the chief agent forgive sins : but God must be the first 
pardonen Nor that any man can pardon the sins of 
the dead, and abate or shorten the pains of the soul, in 
a fire called purgatory. 

Verily, if the pope have power to remit but the very 
temporal punishment, he is a cruel wretch that will not 
forfi^ive men, even good men, the torments of the gout, 
ana the stone, and an hundred diseases; nay that will 
not remit thenL to himself; nor the pains oi death, 
when he is so loath to die. He that cannot remit the 
punishments which we see and feel, how shall we be- 
. Ueve him, that he can remit a penalty that he never 
saw nor felt, nor can be proved to exist. 

6. His sixth accusation is this ; " Scripture saith, if 

a virgin marry she sinneth not : but you say that the 

just sin in all works : which Scripture mentions not." 

Do you believe in your conscience that the Scrip- 



«74 llflTIT 

tare meaneth that a virgin nnneth not at all in any 
circumstance or defect in the manner or contomitants 
of her marriage / Then tell your nuns so, that if they 
marry they sin not. Tell priests so, that if they marry 
they sin not. Your own reason can expect no other 
sense in the words, but that marriage, as such, is no 
sin to the virgin. But if you think that in this or in 
any other work, you see God as apprehensively, and 
believe as strongly, and restrain every wanaering 
thought as exactly, and love God as much as you are 
bound to do by the very law of nature itself; so that 
you are perfectly blameles$,^and need not to be beholden 
to the blood of Christ, to the mercy of God, to the 
spirit of grace either for the forgiveness of those fil- 
ings, or the cure of them : you show a proud pharisa- 
teal spirit, unacquainted with itself and with the Gos- 
pel. Do you go on and say, Lord I thank thee that I 
am not as other men : and I will rather say, Lord ht 
merciful to me a sinner : and which shall he^ rather 
justified, Christ hath told us. The streams cannot be 
perfectly sinless till the fountain be so : and who can 
say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my 
sin ? ProT. xx. 9. For there is not a just man upon 
earth, that doeth good and sinneth not, Eccl. vii. 20. 
Christ telleth us that the fruit will be like the tree, the 
actions like the heart : and therefore an imperfect heart 
will have imperfect duties. If you dare say there is 
no remnant of sin in your hearts, you have so much 
of it that it hindereth you from seeing it. Humility 
and self-knowledge would soon end this controversy. 
We say not that all our works are sins, that is either 
materially forbidden, or done in wickedness and from 
vicious predominant habits. But that the same works, 
which materially are good, are tainted with our sinful 
imperfections, having not in them that measure of 
knowledge, faith, love, &c. that we ought to have ; and 
therefore that we must beg pardon for our imperfec- 
tions, and fly to the blood and merits of Christ, through 
whoin God will accept both our works and us^ fbr all 
the imperfection, which he pardoneth to us of his 
grace. 

7. His seventh accusation is this ; " Scripture salth, 



JUGGLING. 375 

tliat there are wicked men and reprobates, who believe 
in Christ : but you contend that they believe not, but 
have only a shadow of faith: which no Scripture 
saith." 

We say that reprobates do believe, and we say that 
they believe not, taking belief in different senses. We 
believe whatever the Scripture saith, even that the devils 
bielieve and tremble : and yet as believers and Chris- 
tians are all one, we do not call the devils believers 
uid Christians ; but you may do it if you please. As 
belief signifieth a bare ineffectual conviction or super- 
ficial: assent which you call informed faith, so we still 
confess that the wicked may believe. But as belief 
signifieth our receiving of Christ, and coming to him, 
and being planted into hiili as his members, and taking 
him heartily as Christ, our Lord and Saviour, and so 
becoming Chfistians and disciples; as it signifieth such 
a &ith that hath the promise of pardon, of sin of adop- 
tion, and of glory : So we say that the wicked have 
but a show or shadow oi it. 

S. His eighth accusation is this; "Scripture saith, 
that there are some that believe for a time, and after at 
another time believe not: you deny that there are 
any that believe for a time, and then fall from faith, 
and that he that once believeth doth never lose that 
faith ; which is not in any Scripture to be found." 

We maintain, that there are some that believe but 
for a time, and afterward fall away ; but we say it is 
but with an ineffectual or common assent that they be- 
lieve, such as you call unformed faith ; your accusa- 
tion therefore is false. The living seed are meant of 
saving. If any of you think that faith iar called justi- 
fying or sdving faith, only by an extrinsecal denomi* 
nation, from a concomitant, and that there is no differ- 
ence in the faith itself between that of the unjustified 
and of the justified, you are mistaken against all rea- 
son. Your own philosophers frequently maintain that 
the will, which is the seat of charity, fblloweth the 
practical dictates of the intellect, which is the seat of 
assent : and therefore according to those philosophers* 
a practical belief must need be accompanied with 
charity. Those that deny this, do yet maintain that 



$76 JZBvn 

a powerfol clear assent of the intellect will in&Uibly 
procure the determination of the will, though every 
assent will not, and though it do it not necessarily. So 
that on that account, and in common reason, there 
must needs be an intrinsic difiference between that as* 
sent which prevailed with the will to determine itsel( | 
and that which cannot so prevail: and therefore 
your unformed and your formed faith, have some 
intrinsic difference. 

Are you not at odds among yourselves about per- 
severance/ Some laying it first on man's free will; 
and some, with Austin ascertaining perseverance to 
the elect, and laying it on God's free gijfi ; and some 
Jesuits and school men affirming, that the confirmed in 
grace are not only certain to persevere, but that they 
necessarily believe and are saved, and cannot mortally 
sin. Strange doctrine for a Jesuit ! 

9. His ninth accusation is this; " Scripture saith, if 
thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments : you 
say there is no need of keeping the commandments, 
and that he who saith it, doth deny Christ and abolish 
faith, of which the Scripture speaketh not a word." 

We distinguish between the keeping of that law of 
works, or nature, which made perfect obedience the 
only condition of life: and the keeping of the law of 
Moses as such : and the keeping of the law of Christ. 
For the two first, we say that no man can be justified 
by the works of the law. Is this a doubt among Pa- 
pists who believe Paul's Epistles? But as for the law 
of Christ, as such, we must endeavor to keep it per- 
fectly ; and must needs keep it sincerely, if we will be 
saved. In this all Protestants are agreed; and dare 
any Papist deny it ? If we be not all agreed on the 
sense of that text of Scripture, yet are we agreed oh 
the doctrine. 

10. His tenth accusation is this; ** Scripture saith, 
that Some that were illuminated and made partakers of 
the Holy Ghost, did fail, and crucify again to them- 
selves the Son of God : but you defend, that whoever 
is once a partaker of the Holy Ghost, you cannot ftll 
from his grace: which Scripture speaketh not," 

We maintain that those words of Scripture are of 



JUOOLINO. 277 

eertain truth. But we distingfaish between the common 
and the special gifts of the spirit. The common gifts 
may be lost. The special gifls which, accompany sat* 
Tation, some judge are never lost. Others think they 
^re lost only by those that are not predestinated as 
Austin and your Dominicans think. 

.11. His eleventh accusation is this; "Scripture 
saith, that Qodtaketh away, and blotleth out our iniquity 
as a cloud, and puts our iniquities far from us, aathe 
esmt is from the west, and maketh us as white as snow : 
yOu sjiy, that he takes not away nor blotteth out our, 
sin, but only .doth not impute it, and doth not make us 
white as snow, but leaveth in us the fault and unclean- 
ness of sin : which S<^ripture no more speaks," 

That is half falsehood, and half confusion. It is 
false that we say, he doth not take away, nor blot out 
our sin, nor make us white as snow. Do not all Prot* 
t(stants in the world affirm this? There are these 
things to be considered. The act of sin : the habit, 
the guilt or obligation to punishment : and the culpa- 
bility. As for the act, how can you for shame say, 
that God takes it afway, when it is a transient act that 
is -gone of itself as soon as acted, and hath no existence^ 
as Scotus and all your own take notice? As to the 
culpability, you will not surely for shame say, that God 
80 put away David's adultery, as to make it reputable 
as a virtue, or not a vice. As to the full guilt, we 
maintain that it is done quite away : and it is in regard 
of that guilt and punishment that the Scriptures men- 
tioned by you speak. For what else can they mean, 
when they speak of actual sins that are past long ago, 
and have no existence T Would you make us beHeve, 
that fifrace is cri ven to David to put away the act of his 
murder and adultery, so that it may be a thing past and 
gone ; which it is without grace f So that when you 
feign us to say, that Qoi takes not away sin, but only 
iihputeth it, yon feign us to make synonymal terms to 
be of different senses. He takes them away, by not 
imputing them. 

But if you speak not of the sense of a particuhir 
text, but of the matter in difference, it can he nothing 
but the habit of sin that you^ mean, that w« say, that 

24 



278 JssiriY 

God takes not away- And here you are partly cnluai* 
niators, and partly erroneous Pharisees. You cslam- 
niate, in feigning us to deny, that habitual sin is done 
awav. Because our divines say, that it is not the 
work of mere pardon, which we call justification, to 
put it away ; therefore you falsely say, that we hold. 
It is not put away at all. Whereas we hold« that aU 
that are justified, are sanctified, converted, regenerated, 
renewed, and must live an holy life: and that aU their 
sins are so £iir destroyed, that they shall not have do- 
minion over them : that gross and wilful sin they for- 
sake : and the least infirmities, they groan, and pray, 
and strive against to the last : and then obtain a perfect 
conquest But if you mean, that no degree of habit- 
ual sin, or absence of holy qualities remaineth in the 
justified soul, it is a Pharisaical error. Dare you say 
that you have no sin to resist or purge or pardon ? are 
you m heaven already ? The whole have no need of a 
physician, but the sick, and have you no need of Christ 
to heal your soul ? would voo be no better than you 
are? O proud souls ! and strange to theniselves and 
the purity of the law ! hath not the Holy Ghost pro- 
nounced nim a liar and self deceiver, that saith he hath 
no sin, 1 John. i. 8, 10.' In many things we ofiend 
all, James iii. 2. I shall recite two canons of a council, 
which if you use the Lord's Prayer, are fit for you to 
consider. Cojuil. Milevit. cont. Pelagianos Can, 7. 

That council curseth all those as intolerable liars, 
that say the Lord's Prayer, desiring him daily to for- 
give or remit sins, and yet think that they have no sins 
to forgive, or that every saint hath not such sins. 
What can a Papist say to this, but by making councils 
as yoid of sense, as they feign the Holy Scriptures to 
be? 

12. His twelfth and last accusation is this ; '* The 
Scripture saith, that blessedness is the reward, the 
prize, the penny, the wages of laborers, and the crown 
of righteousness : you contend that its merely the free 
gifl of God, and not reward, which no Scripture doth 
affirm." 

We constantly say that eternal life is given as a re- 
ward and crown of righteousness. But we distin* 



I 



jireciLiNG. S279 

gnisk between the act of God in his Gospel promise, 
which is a conditional deed of gift of Christ and life to 
all that will accept them^ and the execution of thi|} by 
joudgtnent and glorification. We also say that it 'was 
merely of God's free grace that he made such a deed 
of gift, the blood of Christ being the purchasing cause, 
and nothing of our works had a hand in the procure^ 
ment ' Our justification in jiidgment, and our glorifi- 
cation, which are the execution of the law of grace, do 
make our works the reason ; not as haTing merited it 
in commutative justice, but as having performed the 
condition of the free gift, and so being the persons to 
-whom it doth belong. This^ is the sense of Scotus and 
of one half of the Papists, who say that merit of con- 
•dignity is but by virtue of God's promise. 
- ^ I leave it to the conscience of any sober Papist, wheth- 
er we be guilty in any one point that this great cardinal 
chargeth us with ? And whether Papists and Protes- 
tants were not in a fair way for reconciliation, if we 
differed not more in other things than in these / 

Scripture only is the rule and test of our faith and 
religion. Poly d ore Virgil speaks truly of us, saying ; 
" They are called evangelical, because they maintain 
that no law is to be received in matters of salvation, 
but what is delivered by Christ or his Apostles." If 
therefore any man speak in any word amiss, blame the 
man that spoke it for that word; but blame not all, or 
any others for it. Austin retracted his own errors ; 
and which of us dare justify every word that hath fallen 
from our mouths or pen before God.' How many 
hundred points do schoolmen and commentators charge 
on one another as erroneous, among yourselves f Shall 
all the errors of the fathers be charged on the catholic 
diurch, or all your writers' errors upon yours t 

That we do well to stick to the Holy Scriptures as 
the sufficient rule, we are the more encouraged to think, 
by the concessions of our adversaries of greatest no^e, 
as well by the testimony of the Scripture itself, and 
the consent of the ancient doctors of the church, and 
the unprovedness of their pretended additional. Even 
Cardinal Richlieu saith ; " As for us, we put, or assert, 
no other rdle but Scripture, neither of another sort, nor 



280 JSsviT 

total: and we say that it is the whole rule of out sal' 
TatioD, and that en a double account ; both because it 
containetb immediately and formally the sum of oui 
aalTatioo, that is, all the articles that are necessary to 
nan's salvation, by necessity of means ; and becisuse 
k mediately containetb whatsoever we are bound to 
believe, as it semis us to the church to be instructed by 
her, of whose infallibility it certainly confirmeth us." 
Thus he grants us that all articles necessary to our 
salvation, as means, are immediately and fornuilly in 
the Scripture : then surely they may be saved that be- 
lieve no more than is in the Scripture : that we are to 
believe no church but tbat which the Scripture sends 
us to, and to believe its infallibility no further than the 
Scripture doth confirm it: and that the Scripture is our 
whole and only rule. O that all Papists would adhere 
to this ! But let them not blame us now for standing 
to it. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

DiversiU/ of cpkiion, 

Anothek of their frauds is this; by ranking tbe 
Protestants among the rabble of sects and heresies that 
are in tbe world, and then asking ignorant souls, if you 
will needs be of any sect how many are before you? 
and what reason have you rather to be of the Protes- 
tants, than of any other ? 

This question is worth the considering by a Pajpist, 
or any sectary ; bat the true catholic is quite out of tho 
reach of it. The church of Christ is one, and but one, 
This one catholic church containetb all the true Chris- 
tians in the world. This is the church that I aUi a 
member of; which is far wider than the Popedom. 
The church that I profess myself a member of contaia- 
eth three parts; The most sound and healthful part; 
ajid that is the reformed churches. The most un- 
sound in doctrine, though possess d of many learned 
men ; not as Papists but as Christians, though infected 



JUSOLING. 281 

with Popery. The middle part, which is sounder 
than the Papists in doctrine, but less learned, and below 
the Protestants in both; and that is all the Greeks and 
other Eastern and Southern churches that are no sub- 
jects of the pope. All those, even all true Christians, 
are members of the church that I belong to ; though 
8ome of them be more sound, and to these I may add 
many, particular lesser sects, that subvert not the 
foundation. Will you astt me now why I will not 
be of another sect, as well els of the Protestants f 
*My answer is ready, a sect divided from the body, 
1 abhor, i am of no sect. It is the unity, universality 
and antiquity of the church that are its honorable 
attributes in my eyes. Protestants that unchurch 
all the rest of the world, and count themselves the 
whale church of Christ, do in some sort make them- 
selves a sect Bat where is there any such ? There- 
fore Protestants are no more a sect, than the patients 
in a hospital who are almost healed, or than the higher 
form of scholars in school, or than merchants or richei 
sort of tradesmen in a city Such a sect God grant 
that I may be of, even one in the church that shall be 
of soundest understanding, and of purest worship, and of 
the most careful, holy, honest life. But still I shall 
acknowledge them of the lowest form, even them that 
learn the A. B. C. to be in the same sohool with me. 
And if they, Papists or any others, will disclaim rae, 
that shall not unchurch me, as long as Christ disclaims 
me not. Nor shall it provoke me to disclaim them any 
^rther than Christ leads the way. So that the Papists 
may see that if they will deny the church that 1 am 
of, they must deny their own^ and aU the Christian 
world. 

But how will they answer this themselves ? It is 
one of the greatest reasons why I dare not be a Papist, 
because then I know I must be a sectary. What is a 
Papist but as mere a sectary as any that retaineth a 
name in the church ? They are a company of men 
that have set up a human usurping head or viceChri«t 
over the catholic church, owning him themselves; and 
unchurching and condemning all the church that will 
not own him. The church that I am of ii near thrko 

24* 



282 imnvrt 

■B big as the Papist charck is. Theirs is but a polhit* 
ed piece, that would divide itself from all the leit by 
coDdemDiDg them. 

I would seriously desire any Papist living to rea<dTe 
the qnestioD ; If he will needs be of a sect, and forsake 
die universal church, why of the Popish sect rather than 
another ? If because it is the greatest, I answer it is 
less than the whole. If because it is the purest, it is 
the most impure. If for antiquity, it is founded upon 
no?elty. If because it is the rich^? their money per* 
ish with them that measure the church and truth of 
Christ by the riches and splendor of this world I 



CHAPTER XXXII. ' 

Momitk jSneutmn. 

Another of their jugglings is this; By working 
upon the people^s natural affections^ and asking then, 
tBhere they think all their Jorefathers are that died in 
the communion of the Roman church? Dare ikey 
think that they are all damned % iutimating that it is 
cruelty to say their ancestors are in hell ; and if they 
say they be in heaven, then there is but one way thith- 
er, and therefore vou must go the way that they went. 

1. A weak uncierstandiDg may easily deal with that 
sophistry. What if we grant that many of our fore- 
others that died Papists are in heaven ? doth it follow 
that we must therefore be Papists ? It was not by Po- 
pery that they went to heaven, but by Christianity. 
What if many recover and live that eat not only earth 
and dirt, but hemlock or other poisons f Must I there- 
fore eat them ? Or doth it follow that there is no other 
way to health ? 

2. Our forefethers were all saved that were holy, 
justified persons, and no others. But among so many 
and great impedinaents as Popery cast in their way, we 
have great reason to fear that far fewer of them were 
saved, than are now among the reformed churches. 
Must I needs go that difUcult way to heaven, because 



juoo;lik6. 383 

come of them get thither? Mast I travel a way that 
is commonly beset with thieves, because some that go 
that way dp escape them ? ^ 

3. If this were good reasoning, then may all the 
heathens, infidels, Moh^immedans use it, that have been 
educated in darkness. It is the argument which the 
barbarous heathens use, when the Gospel is preached 
to them ; what think you, say they, is become of our 
fathers ? If they were saved without the Gospel, so 
may we. The story of that infidel prince is common 
that being ready to go to the water to be baptized, 
stepped back, and asked where are all my ancestors 
now ? And when he was told that they were in hell, 
and that the Christians go to heaven, he told them, then 
he would be no Christian, for he would go where bis 
ancestors are. 

4. Where be all our forefathers that are dead since 
the reformation ? and where be all those that died be« 
tween the resurrection of Christ and the appearing of 
Popery, or the prevailing of it in the world ? and where 
be all that die in the eastern and southern churches, that 
are no subjects of the Pope of Rome? Have we not 
as little reason to think that all these millions of men 
are damned, as to think so of bur Popish ancestors % 

5. Why should we be more foolish for our souls 
than for our bodies? I would hot be poor because my 
ancestors were so. Nor would I have the stone or 
gfout because my ancestors had them. Not will I say 
that they are no diseases, ior fear of dishonoring my 
ancestors that had them. And why then should I wil- 
fully lick up any Popish errors, because my ancestors 
by the disadvantage of the times and of their education 
were cast upon them ? 

6. It is not our forefathers but God Xhat we must 
follow. It is he, and not they,, who is the Lord of our 
faith and of our souls. It will not excuse us in judg- 
ment for disobeying God, to say that our forefathers 
led us the way: nor will it ease us in hell to sufiet 
with our forefathers. Christ tells us, huke xvi. of a 
rich man that in hell would have his brethren virarned, 
lest they should follow him: but these men would havo 
us follow our forefathers, even in their sin against 



284 J£sttT 

God. Whereas the Scriptures constantly make it an 
aggravation of a people's sin, when they follow their 
fathers in it, and take not warning by their falls. The 
son that folio weth his father in his sins, shall die, and 
he that takes warning and avoideth his father's sins, 
shall live. Ezekiel xviii. 

7. Our forefathers might be saved that sinned in 
the dark, and yet we be damned if we follow them in 
the light ; or at least we shall be beaten with more 
stripes than they, if both must perish* They had not 
our means, or liberty. If they had seen and heard 
what we have done, many of them would have repented 
long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Shall we sin wil- 
fully after the knowledge of truth, because our fath- 
ers sinned ignorantly for want of information? 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Popish DeapoHtm. 

Another of their frauds is this; Pretending to a 
divine institution^ and natural excellency of a visible 
monarchical government of the church. And so they 
would derive it from Peter, from Christ or from na- 
ture, and God the author of nature. 

All their writings take this as their strength. \ shall 
refer chiefly to a cheating consultation, by Boverius, 
Ratione vera fidei, S^c. ad Carolum Principem, in- 
tended for the perverting of Charles I. then in Spain. 

Part 1. Reg. 6. he asserteth, that "besides Christ 
the invisible head of the church, there is a necessity 
that we acknowledge another certain visible head sub- 
rogate to Christy and instituted of hira, without which 
none can be a member of Christ, or any way subsist 
alive. 

He begins his proof with a cheat, as gross as com- 
mon, an abuse of Cyprian's words, L I. Ep. 3. where 
Cyprian speaks for the necessity of obeying one in the 
church, meaning a particular church, as the whole 
scope of his epistle testifieth: and this man would 



JVGOLINO. 285 

I 

make the simple believe that he speaks of the aniver- 
sal church. 

1. His reasons proceed thus : He tells us, that " the 
invisible God thinks meet to govern the world by vis- 
ible men." Who denies that Christ also governeth his 
church by men ? 

' But he concludeth hence; "Still we believe that 
Christ doth govern his^ church in another way than 
Grod governeth the whole world f^ Doth not this man 
give up the cause of the pope, and say as much against 
it fundameritallv as Protestant ? " We must not believe 
that Christ doth govern the church in any other way 
than God doth govern the world." But saith common 
sense and experience ; God doth not govern the whole 
world by any one, two, or ten, universal vice-monarchs : 
therefore ,Christ doth not govern the church by any 
one universal vice-monarch. 

His next reason is, " Because Christ was a visible 
monarch once on earth himself: and if the church 
had need of a visible monarch then, it hath need of it 
still." 1. Here the reader may see, that it is to no 
less than to be Christ's successor, or a vice-Christ, that 
the pope pretendeth. And then the reason, if it were 
of any worth, would as well prove, that there must be 
one on earth still that may give the Holy Ghpst imme- 
diately, and make articles of faith de novo^ and laws 
for the church with promise of salvation, and may ap- 
point new offices and orders in the whole church, &c. 
And why not one also to live without sin, and die for 
our sins, and rise again, and be our Saviour % And 
why not one to give us his own body and blood in the 
sacrament f 

2. Christ himself doth oppose himself to all terres- 
tial inhabitants, saying; One is your master even 
Christ. Be not ye called masters? but he that is 
greatest among you shall be your servant. Be not ye 
called Rabbi, for one is your master even Christ, and 
all ye are brethren. M(U. xxiii. 8, 9, 10, 1 1, 12. Where 
most evidently he shows that neither Peter, or any of 
his own disciples were to be called masters, as Christ 
was, nor was any such to be on earth, and so no vice- 
Christ ; yea that all his apostles being brethren, were 



f86 lEMVTT ' 

not to be masters ooe to another, bat senrants : so diat 
here is a plain bar pat in against any of Peter's mas- 
tenhip or headship of the uniTersal church. Hence; 
it foUoirs not that ire most still ha^e a Christ on eaith, 
becanse we once had. 

3. Christ hath chosen another ricar, though inrisi- 
ble, as Tertallian calls him: and that is,the Holy Criiost, 
whom he sent to make sach supply as was necessary, 
by variiius gifts proportioned to the seTeral states and 
members of the church. 

4. If Christ would have left a Tice-Christ upon 
earth, which should hsTe been an essential pait, eren 
the head of his church; he would doubtless hare plainiy 
expressed it in Scripture, and described his o^ce and 
power, and given him directions to exercise it, and us 
directions how to know which is he, and to obey him; 
but there is not a word of any such matter in tlie 
Scripture, nor antiquity ; when yet is a point of such 
luspeakable importance f 

5. You might as well feign, that if it were then 
necessary to have tweWe or thirteen apostles, it is so 
stOl : and, if then it was necessary to have the gift of 
tongues and miracles, it is so still: of which the pope 
himself is void. 

6. It is not enough for your silly wit, to say it is fit 
that Christ have a successor, therefore he hath one: 
but let him that claimeth so high an honor as to be the 
vice Christ, produce his commission, and prove his 
claim it he will be believed. 

7. Christ is still the visible head of his church, seen 
in heaven, and as much seen in heaven, and as much 
seen over all the world, except Judea and Egypt, as 
ever he was. When he was on earth, he was not visible 
at Rome, Spain, Asia, &c. He that is emperor of the 
Turkish Monarchy, perhaps was never personally a 
hundred miles from Constantinople. The King of 
Spain is no visible monarch in the West Indies. If all 
the world except Judea might be without a present 
Christ, then why that may not as well as the rest you 
may give him an account, if you will tie him to be 
here resident. 

8. If the pope would usurp no more power thisiQ 



Christ exercised visibly on earth, he would not then 
divide inheritances, nor be a temporal prince, nor wear 
a triple crown nor keep a court and retinue, nor depose 
princes, nor deny them tribute, nor exempt his prelates 
from it, nor from their judgment seats, nor absolve 
their subjects from their fidelity, &c, nor trouble the 
world as now he doth. He would not exercise the 
power of putting any to death ; much less would he 
set up inquisitions, to burn poor people for reading the 
Scriptures, or not being of his mind. 

He makes Christ the •* visible pope while he was 
on earth, and tells us that promulgating the Gospel, 
sending apostles, instituting sacraments, &,c. were Pon- 
tificalia numera, Papal offices." Was Christ a pope : 
and is the pope a Christ ? Jesus I know : and Peter 
and Paul I know : but this vice* Christ I know not. If 
indeed the vice-Christ have power to do those Papal 
works, to promulgate a new Gospel, to send out Apos- 
tles, to institute sacraments, &c. as Christ did, let us 
but know which be the pope's sacraments, and which 
be Christ's ; which be the pope's Apostles, and which 
be Christ's; and which be the pope's Gospel, and 
which is Christ's, and we shall use them accordingly. 
The law and testimony will help us to distinguish 
them. 

He tells us as Card. Richlieu and the rest commonly 
do, that ^' it IS no dishonor to Christ to have a deputy, 
no more than ior the king of England to have k deputy 
or vice-king in Ireland." But our first question is, 
whether de facto such a thing be f Prove that Christ 
hath commissioned a vice-Christ, arid we will not pre- 
sume to say that he hath dishonored himself 

Though it should not dishonor Christ, it is such a 
transcendent honor to man, as we will not believe that 
any man hath, that nroveth not his claim. It was no 
dishonor to the Goahead to be united to the manhood 
of Christ in personal union ; but if the pope say that 
the Godhead is thus united to his manhood I will not 
believe him. 

Though we should not have presumed to question 
Christ if he had done it, yet we must presume to tell 
the pope that he is guilty of dishonoring Christ by hit 



288 JxstJiT 

usurpation. Because he sets up himself as vice-Christ, 
without his commission; and takes that to himself, 
Christ's prerogative. God saith, ." This is my heloved 
son in whom I am well pleased, hear him : And the 
Papists say of the Pope, "This is the vice-Christ, hear 
him." Because the power of the king is more com* 
municahle, than the power of Christ, it heing such as 
is fit for one mere man as well as for another. Bat 
the power of Christ is such as no mere man is fit for. 
The capacityr of the subject is considerahle as necessa- 
ry to the reception of the form of power. He that is 
God as well as man is fit for a universal monarchy, 
when he that is mere man is not. Whence we ar- 
gue thus: — If there was never such a thing hy God's 
institution as a mere man to be the Christ or universal 
head of the church, then there is no such thing to he 
imagfined now : but there never was such a thing. 

Christ that was the visible head was God and man : 
when the pope ia so, we will believe in him, as his suc^ 
cessor. 

The reading of their immodest arguings, to prove 
the pope to he the vice-Christ on earth, doth exceedingly 
increase my suspicion that he is the Antichrist. For 
to be Peter's successor, as a first Apostle, is a cputempt* 
ible thing in those men's eyes. This is not it that they 
plead for. Bellarmin expressly tells us, that the pope 
succeeds not Peter as an Apostle : it is as a vice-Cnrist 
to the whole church, as Boverius maintaiheth : and 
this they malre the foundation of their catholic church, 
and the acknowledgment of it essential to every mem- 
her of it. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Scripture Evidence. . 

Another of thieir devices is, to take nothing as evi- 
dence from Seripture ; but the letters or express fcords. 

They will not endure ta hear of consequences, no 
iior jynOkiy mous expressions. BeUarm in himself saitb, 



\ 



JUGGLING. HQQ 

Verb, Deif Lib, 3. Cap. 3. " It is agreed between us 
and our iidversaries, that efficient arguments should 
be sought from the literal sense alone : for that sense 
which is immediately collected from tne words, is the 
certain reasoning of the Holy Spirit." Cardinal Per- 
ron in his reply against King James devised this 
deceit : but Gonter and Veronius the Jesuits have per- 
fected it. Vedelius shows; Rationale Theologieum 
Cap. 6. that it was hatched in Germany by the Luth- 
erans for the defending of consubstantiation, and from 
them borrowed by the revolter Perron ; whose father 
waa a Protestant ; but the sons of profligacy being in- 
tolerable to tho Huguenot Christians he became a Pa- 
pist. Voetius Caus. Disp. Pap. 

Our judgment in this point, I shall lay down dis- 
tinctly. 1. The Holy Scripture is the doctrine, testa- 
ment and law of Christ. And we shall add nothing to 
it, nor take aught from it. The use of it as a doctrine, 
is to inform us of the will of God in points there writ- 
ten. The use of it as a testament, is to signify to us 
the last will of our, Lord concerning our duty and sal- 
vation. The use of it as a law, is to appoint us our 
duty and reward or punishment ; and to be the rule of 
our obedience, by which we shall be judged. 

2. All laws are m^de to reasonable creatures, and 
suppose the use of reason for the understandingof them. 
To use reason about the law, is not to add to the law. 

3; The subject must have this use of reason to dis- 
cern the sense of the law that he may obey it : and 
the judge must rationally pass the sentence by it. 

4. This is the application of the law to the fact and 
person : and though the fact in person be not in the 
law, yet the application of the law to the fact and per- 
son is no addition to it. Otherwise to use any such thing 
would be to add to it. 

5. As the fact is distinct from the law, so must the 
sentence of the judge be, which results from both. 

6. To speak the sense or thing in equipollent terms, 
is not to the law in matter or sense : else we must not 
translate. 

7.' Yet we maintain the Scripture sufficiency in 
terma and sense, so that we shall confess that equif ol* 

25 



S90 JXJBVIT 

leDt words are only Holy Scripture as to sense, bat not 
as to tbe terms ; even translations theniselyes. 

8. But there is no law but may many ways be bro- 
ken, and no doctrine but may be dJTera ways opposed. 
And therefore though we vield, that nothing but the 
exprete words of God are the Scripture, for terms and 
seuse. yet many thousand words may be against Scrip- 
ture, that be not there expressly forbidden in terms. 

The law of nature is God's law, and the light of na- 
ture is his revelation. And therefore that which the 
light of nature seeth immediately in nature, or that 
which it seeth from Scripture and nature compared 
together, and soundly concludeth from these premises, 
is truly a revelation from God. 

10. The conclusion folio weth the more from the 
premises, in point of evidence or certainty to us. 
Where the Scripture is the more dark, there tbe con- 
clusion is of the Scripture faith : but where the fact 
or proposition from the light of nature is more weak, 
there the conclusion is of natural evidence: but in both, 
of divine discovery. For there is no truth and light 
but frora God the father of lights. 

Now for the Papists, you may see their folly thus: 
if nothing but the bare word of law may be heard in 
trials, then all laws in the world are void and vain. 
For the subjects be not all named in them ; nor the fact 
named: and what then have witnesses, and jurors, and 
judges to do / The promise saith, he that beiieveth 
shall be saved: but it doth not say that Bellarmin or 
Veronius belie veth : doth it follow, that therefore they 
may make no use of it for the comforting of their souls 
in the hopes of salvation .'' The threatening saith, that 
he that believeth not is condemned : but it saith not 
that such or such a man believeth not : should they 
not therefore fear the threatening ? 

By this trick they would condemn Christ himself 
also, as adding to the law in judgment. He will say 
to them, I was hungry and ye Ted me not, &c. But 
where said the Scripture so, that such or such a man 
fed not Christ? Christ knows the fact without the 
Scripture. The Scripture is sujSicient to its own use, 
to be the rule of obedience and judgment: but it is not 
sufficient to every other use which it was never made 



for. The law said to Cain, thou shah not murder. Qut 
it is. not said to him^ thou hast killed thy brother, there- 
fore thou shah die. It was th« judge's part todeliirerthis. 

By this trick they would give a man. leave to vent 
any blasphemy, or do any villainy, changing but the 
name. But they shall find that the law intended not 
tare words, but by words to signify things : and if they 
do the things prohibited, or hold the opinions condemn- 
ed) whatever names or words they clothe them with, 
they shall feel the punishment. 

Sy this they would leave almost nothing provable 
by the Scripture, seeing a Papist or heretic may put 
the same into other terms, and then call for the proof of 
that. For example, they may ask where God com- 
mandeth or instituteth any of the sacraments in Scrip- 
ture? And when we tell them where Baptism and 
the Lord's Supper was instituted, they may reply, that 
there is no mention of Sacraments ; and so turn real 
controversies into verbal. 

By this they would make all translations to be of 
little use. A man might lawfully sin in English, be- 
cause God forbad it only in Hebrew and Greek. 

Let them tell us what Scripture saith, that Peter was 
the vicar of Christ, or the head of the catholic church: 
or the bishop of Rome, or that the pope is his succes- 
sor, or that the pope is the vice-Christ, or universal 
bishop. Where is there express Scripture for any of 
this? or so much as Bellarmin's literal sense .^ 

Why do not those blind and partial men see, that 
thfe same course also must be taken with their own laws? 
And all their decretals and canons are insufficient, ac- 
cording to these rules. It is easy for any heretic to 
form up his error into other words than those con- 
demned by pope or council: and if you go again to 
the pope, and get hitn to condemn those new expres- 
sions, the men in Mexico may use them long to the det- 
riment of the souls of men, before the damnatory sen- 
tence be brought to them. And when it comes they 
can again word their heresy anew. The Jansenists 
in France show how well the pope's decision of wordy 
controversies is understood, and aoth not avail. But if 
they will hold that no part of the pope's laws oblige 
bat in the literal sense, or that none offend that vioiaue 



b 



292 JB9X71T 

not the letter, they will make a great alteriition in their 
affairs. Any of their subjects may blaspheme the pope 
himself in French, Dutch, Irish, English, Slavonian, 
&c. because he forbids it only in I^atin ; for if transla- 
tion be not God's word then they are not the pope's 
word neither. A pretty crotchet for a Jesuit ! It is said 
that a traitor or murderer may be hanged : l>ut it is not' 
said that such or such a man shall be hanged ,* or that 
he was a traitor or murderer. Whitaker DispuU 
Script. Sac. Quest. 2. Cap. 10. 

Their common instance is ; " Thp Scrijrture no . 
where calls itself the whole word of God; nor no 
where tells us which be the canonical books, &c. and 
yet those are articles of faith." The Scripture doth 
call itself the word of God^ and signifies its own suffi- 
ciency, and several books have particular testimonies to 
be canonical. Though secondarily so far as Scripture 
affirmeth its own divinity, it should be believed : yet pri- 
marily, that this is God's word, and that these are the 
books, and that they are not corrupted, and that they are 
all, &c. are points of knowledge antecedent in order of 
nature to divine belief of them. There are two great 
foundations antecedent to the matter of divine faith. 
The one is God's veracity ; that God cannot lie : the 
other is, his revelation : that this is God's word: the first 
is the formal object of faith. The second is a neces- 
sary medium between the formal object and the subject, 
without which there is no possibility of believing. The 
material object called the articles of faith, presupposes 
both these, as points of knowledge, proved to us by 
their proper evidence. And that this is all the word of 
God, is a mere consequence, from the actual tradition of 
this much and no more. 

To give you an undeniable illustration. Let us 
inquire which be the administering laws of this com- 
monwealth. We shall find that the law-giver is none 
of them ; for that is in the constitution, before the ad- 
ministration : and it is the formal object of every law, 
which is more noble than the material object. The 
promulgation of these laws is not itself a law; but a 
necessary medium to the actual obligation of the law. 
That there is no other laws but these, is not a law; 
but a point known by the non-promulgation of more. 



*f hat all these laws are the eame that they pretend to 
be, and that they are not changed or depraved since, 
this is not a law neither, but a truth to be proved by 
common reason, from the evidences that maybe brought 
from records, practise, and abundance more. 

So is it in our case. That God is true, and the sov- 
ereign rector, is a point first to be known by evidence; 
the one being the formal object of faith, and the other 
the- formal object of obedience : and easily proved by 
natural light before we come to Scripture. That this 
is God's revelation, or promulgation of his law, is a 
point also first to be proved by reason; not before we 
see the book or hear the word, but out of the book or 
doctrine itself, with the full historical evidence, and 
many other reasons, which in order of nature lie before 
our obligation to believe. So that this is not primarily 
an article of faith, bul somewhat higher as being the 
necessary medium of our believing. That there is no 
other law, or faith, is not primarily a law or article of 
faith, but a truth proved by the non-revelation or pro- 
mulgation of any other to the world. He that will 
prove' us obliged to believe more, must prove the valid 
promulgation or revelation of more. That these books 
are the same, and not corrupted, is not directly and 
primarily a law or article of faith, but a historical ver- 
ity to be proved, and yet Scripture is witnesss to all or 
most of these, and so they are of faith. 

T^hus it is manifest, that it is an unreasonable de- 
mand of the Papists to call for express Scripture, for 
those things that are not articles of faith in a proper 
sense. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

Unfair DispuianU, 

Onb of their practical deceits consisteth in the ehoos^ 
ing of such persons to dispute with^ against whom they 
find that they have some notable advantage. 

Commonly they deal with women and ignorant peo- 

25» 



294 JEstiT 

pie in secret, who they know are not able to gainsay 
their falsest silliest reasonings. Naked Popery ; error 
of unwritten tradition. 

If they deal with a Minister, it is usually ^ith one 
that hath ^ome at least of these disadvantages. Either 
with some young or weak unstudied man, that is not 
versed in their way of controversy. Or one that is 
not of so voluble and plausible a tongue as others. 
For they know how much the tonguing and toning of 
the matter doth take with the common people. Or 
with one that hath a discontented people, that bear him 
some ill will, and are ready to hearken to any one that 
contradicteth him. Or else with one who hath fixed 
upon some unwarrantable notions, and is like to deal 
with them upon terms that will not hold. If they see 
one hole in a man's way of arguing, they will turn all 
the brunt of the contention upon that, as if the discove- 
ry of his peculiar error or weakness were the confuta- 
tion of his cause. None give them greater advantage 
there, than those that run into some contrary extreme. 
They think to be Orthodox by going as far from Pope- 
ry as the furthest. About many notions in the matter 
of justification, certainty of salvation, the nature of 
iaith, the use of works, &c. they will be sure to go 
with the furthest. A Jesuit desires no better sport, 
than to have the baiting of one that holds any such 
opinion, as he knows himself easily able to disgrace. 
One unsound opoinion or argument is a great disad- 
vantage to the most learned disputant. Most of all the 
insultings and success of the Papists, are from some such 
unsound passages that they pick up from some wri- 
ters. They set all those together, and tell the world 
that this is the Protestant religion. Just as if I should 
give the description of a nobleman from all the blem- 
ishes that ever I saw in one nobleman. As if I have 
seen one crook-backed, another blind, another lame, 
another dumb, another deaf, another a drunkard, &c. 
I should say, that a nobleman is a drunkard, that hath 
neither eyes, nor ears, nor limbs to bear him, &c. So 
deal they by protestants. What a character could we 
give of Papists* on those terms ? 

I would intreat all the ministers of Christ to take 
heed of giving them any such advantage. By over- 



JVoaLiNG. 295 

doing, and running to far into contrary extremes, you 
will sooner advantage them, and give them the day, 
than the weakest disputants that stand on safer grounds. 
Inconsiderate heat and self conceitedness, and making 
a faction of religion, carry many into extremes : when 
judgment, and charity and experience, are all for stand- 
ing on the safe ground, 



CHAPTER XXXVI. ^ 

» 

Fraudtdent Divisiong, 

Another of their practical frauds is this; seeking 
to divide the Protestants among themselves^ or to 
break them into sects^ or poison the ductile sort with 
heresies^ and then to draw them to some odious prac- 
tices, to cast a disgrace on the Protestant cause. 

In this and similar hellish practices, they have been 
more successful than in all their disputations; and thus 
the. cause of hell must be upheld. 

If their own priests are to be believed, WatsonU 
important considerations^ Jesuits have set many nations 
in those flames, whose cause the world hath not ob- 
served. John Brown, in his voluntary confession to a 
committee of parliament, said ; " The whole Christian 
world doth acknowledge the prediction which the uni- 
versity of Paris did foresee in two several decrees they 
made Anno 1565, when the society of Jesuits did labor 
to be members of that university : That race of men is 
born for the destruction of Christianity and the subver- 
sion of literature." They were the only cause of the trou- 
bles which fell out in Muscovy, when under pretence of 
reducing the Latin church, and plant themselves, and 
destroy the Greek church. King Demetrius and his 
dueen, and those that followed him from Poland, were 
all in one night murdered by the monstrous usurper of 
the crown, and the true progeny rooted out. They 
were the only cause, that moved the. Swedes to take 
arms against their lawful King Sigismundj and chased 
him to Poland: and neither he nor his successors were 
ever able to take possession of Sweden. For the Jes- 



1td6 ttBvrt 

0113^ intendoa was to briDg* in tlie Romish religion, and 
root one Proteatants. They irere the only cause thai 
moved the Polonians to take arms against the said Sig- 
iamuad, because they had persuaded him. to marry two 
sisters, one after the other ; both of the house of Austria. 
They have been the sole cause of the war entered in 
Germanyr since the year 1619, as Pope. Paul V. told 
the General of their order, Vicelescus ; for their ava- 
rice, pretending to take all the church lands from the 
Hussites in Bohemia to themselves, which hath caused 
the death ol^ many thousands by sword, famine and 
pestilence in Germany. They have been the cause of 
civil wars in France, during all which time moving 
the French King to take arms against his own Protes- 
tant subjects, where innumerable people have lost 
their lives, as the seige of Rochelle and other places 
give sufficient proof. For the Jesuits' intentions were 
to set their society in all cities and towns conquered by 
the king and quite to abolish the Protestants. They 
were the cause of the murder of the last king of France. 
They were the only projectors of the gunpowder trea- 
son, and their pt^nitents the actors thereof They were 
the onlv cause that incensed the pope to send so many 
fulminate Bulls to these kingdoms, to hinder the oath 
of allegiance and lawful obedience to their temporal 
prince. Their damnable doctrine to destroy and de- 
nose kings, hath been the cause of the civil wars, 
likely to befal these kingdoms, if God in mercy do not 
stop it. Prynnt's Introduction. 

If their own pens are to be credited, those very 
actions of the Swedes, Germans, French, which 
they cast, as a reproach in the face of the Protestant, 
as you may see in a book called The Images of the 
two Churches, were indeed their own and to be laid 
at their own doors. 

How far they were the causes of the old broils in 
Scotland, Knox and Spotswood and all their latter 
histories will tell you. 

How busy they were in England in dneen Eliz- 
abeth's days, the pope's Bulls, and the many treach- 
eries committed signify. MauliWs answer to PkUanax, 



JvdoLiNo. -297 

CHAPtER XXXVII. 

Popish Concealment, 

Another practical fi*aud of the Papists is, In hiding 
themselves and their religion^ that they may do their 
work with the more advantage. 

I. The principal means by which they conceal them- 
selves is, by thrusting themselves into all sects and par- 
ties, and [Cutting on the vizor of any side, as their 
cause requireth. It is well known that formerly we 
had abundance of them that went under the name of 
Protestants, and were commonly called by the name of 
Church Papists: but there is great reason to think that 
there are more such now. Some of them are prelatists, 
and some of them call themselves independents, some 
creep in among the Baptists, some go under the cloak of 
Arminians, some of Socinians, and some of Millenians. 
They animate all the Jugglers and hiders of the times. 
They keep life in libertinism, and infidelity itsel£ 
Among every one of those parties you may find them, 
if you have the skill of unmasking them. 

Another way of hiding themselves is, by having a 
dispensation to come to any of our assemblies, or join 
in worship with any party good or bad. Or else they 
will prove it lawful without a dispensation, where the 
pope interdicteth it not. Their way is this : all the old 
know^n Papists, especially of the poorer sort, shall be 
forbidden to come to our assemblies, lest they bring the 
blot of levity and temporizing on their religion, and 
lest there should not be a visible party among them to 
countenance their cause. But the new proselytes, espec- 
ially such as are of any power and interest in the world, 
and may do them more service in a masked way, and 
can fairly avoid the in^putation of Popery, those shall 
have leave to come to our assemblies, when their cause 
may make advantage of it. That you may see I feign 
not ail this of them, besides the proof from certain ex- 
perience which we daily see ; I lay before you the de- 
cisions of one of (heir principal directors, in this work 
of propagating their faith ; Thom a Jesu de Converse 
Gentium, How far they are for favoring of heathens 



t98 issuiT 

and infidels, and liberty of conscience for them, for all 
their cruelty to Protestants, you may see ; Lib. 5. Dub. 
4. where he tells you that the sentence commonly re- 
ceived in the schools is, that it is not lawful for Chris- 
tian princes to use any force against infidels, for sins 
against the law of nature itself: and citeth Cajet. Vic- 
toria, Covarruv. Greg de valent. He decides it in the 
middle way of Azorius, " that pagans may not be pun- 
bhed for despising the honor and worship of God, 
though they may for not giving every man his own, 
and for theft, murder, false witness, and other sins that 
are against men's right." 

Lib, 5. part. 1. Dub. 6. he teacheth, that ** a catho- 
lic living among heretics may, when the scandalizing 
of others forbid it not, for feai- of death, go to the tem- 
ples of heretics, and b6 among them in their meetings, 
and assemblies, because of itself it is a thing indifferent ; 
for a man may for many causes go to the temples of 
heretics, and be among them in their assemblies; 
that he may the easier and more effectually and com- 
modiously confute their errors, or on other just occa- 
sions, unless accidentally it scandalize others. As" Azor- 
ius saith, he may do it to obey a prince, though he be 
an heretic, when he feareth the loss of his honor, main- 
tenance or life : for in this he only obeyeth his prince : 
especially if among the Papists he openly affirm, that 
he doth it only to obey his prince, and not to profess 
the heretical sect : for by that open attestation he avoid- 
eth the offence and danger of catholics, and well de- 
clincth the unjust vexation of the prince." 

Papists may eat flesh on days when their church for- 
bids it, to hide themselves among heretics.'* Dub. 5. 
So that the Papists are abundantly provided for their 
security, against such as would discover them when it 
stands not with their ends to disclose themselves. 

Another most effectual way of hiding themselves is, 
by equivocation or mental reservations, which we call 
lying, when they are examined about their religion, their 
orders or their actions. Lying that hurteth not another, 
they maintain to be but a venial sin, which say they 
is properly no sin at all. To equivocate or reserve 
one half of your answer to yourselves, say the Jes- 
uits is hot lying, nor unlawiful, in case a dian's interest 



requireth him to do it Thomas a Jem the Carmelite^ 
Dub. 4. secureth them . sufficiently : his question is ; 
" Whether one that denyeth it when he is asked of a 
heretic whether he be a priest, or a religious man* or 
whether he heard divine service, do sin against the con- 
fession of faith 7" He answereth; No: for that is no 
denying himself to be a Christian, or catholic : for it 
is lawful to dissemble or hide the person of a clergy- 
man or a religious man, without a lie in words, lest a 
man be betrayed and in danger of his life ; and for the 
same cause he may lay by his habit, omit prayers, 
&c. — because human laws for the most part bind not 
the subject's conscience, when there is great hazard 
of life as in this case Azorius hath well taught." 
Just, Mor. Tom, 1. lib, 8. c, 27. So that by the con- 
sent of most, there is no danger to a Papist in any 
such case from his own confession. 

Another way of hiding their religion and them- 
selves, is by false oaths, which we call wilful perjury, 
but the Jesuits take for a lawful thing, when a mental 
reservation or equivocation supplieth the want of ver- 
bal truth. Who will ever want so easy, so obvious, 
so cheap a remedy against all danger of perjury, as a 
mental reservation is? 

The pope can sufficiently dispense with any of 
their oaths of fidelity or allegiance,. Hear the words 
of one of their own priests — Brown^s Voluntary Con^ 
fess. in Pri/jine-s Introduct, He saith ; '* It is strange 
to see the stratagems which they use with their pen- 
itents concerning the oath of allegiance ! If they be 
poor, they tell them flatly when they are demanded 
to take the oath, that it is damnable and no ways to 
be allowed by the church : If they be of the richer 
sort, they say they may do as their conscience will 
inspire them. And there be some of them that make 
no conscience at all, to have ii taken so oft as they 
are demanded. What would you have more, than such 
discoveries by themselves ? 

II. What get they by this hiding? Why screen them- 
selves from danger, and more easily prevail to multi- 
ply their sect: for worldly persons would not so 
easily flock into them without some such security 
from sufiering. They preserve those that are come 



aoo jssviT 

over to them from revolting^ by the discouragement of 
sufTering, especially the rich and honorable. They an- 
gle for souls with the less suspicion, when they stand 
behind the bush. Papists are become so dbtasted 
with the people by the powder plot, and many other 
of their pranks, that they may take more with them, 
if they come masked under another name. By this 
means they may openly revile and oppose the min- 
istry, and ordinances, churches, and Protestant doc- 
trine, without disturbance by the magistrate. A Pa- 
pist in a Protestant's coat may rail at us and our 
doctrine in the open streets, and market place, and 
call us all to naught, and teach abundance of their own 
opinions without control. And many a poor soul will 
take a Papist into their bosom, and familiarly hear him, 
and easily swallow down what they say, that would be 
afraid of them if he knew them to be Papists. By this 
means they have easier access to a greater number than 
openly they could have : and they insinuate into our 
counsels, and know all our ways, and how to resist us. 
But above all, by this means they are capable of any 
office and trust among us. It is easy therefore to discern 
tliat their principal artifice lyeth in hiding themselves, 
so there be a visible body of their open professors ; 
those deceivers who have such stretching consciences. 

III. But how shall these hiders be detected? Suspect 
all that use a mask, and purposely hide their minds. A 
man that intendeth deceit, what ever his end be, should 
not take it ill to be suspected for a deceiver. God is 
so good a master that no body should be ashumed of 
him. Truth is so amiable, that the genuine sons of 
truth are not ashamed of it. True religion assureth 
men of that which will save them harmless, and bear out 
against all the malice of earth and hell, and repair all 
the losses that they can sustain in the defending of it 
But saith one ; "Would you not hide your mind or re- 
ligion in Spain ? " I would nbt whenever I found my- 
self capable of serving God most by the discovciry, not 
make use of positive juggling and dissembling to hide 
my religion. If Christians among infidels, or Protes- 
tants among Papists, had thought this dissimulation 
lawful, there had not been so many thousands of them 
martyred or murdered as wer^. What opinion is it that 



JITOOLIKO. 301 

brings men in England into any great danger at this 
day f I will never be of a religion that is not worthy 
my open confession : even to death, when there is so 
michdanger. 

The juggling Papists may be known thus, that they 
are always loosening people from their religion, and 
leading them into a dislike of what they have been 
taught; that they may be receptive of their new im- 
pressions. 

The juggling Papists may be much detected by this, 
that they are all upon the destructive part in their 
disputes, and very little on the assertive part. They 
pull down with both hands, but tell you not what they 
build up, till they have prepared you for the discovery. 
They tell you what they are against : but what they 
are lor, you cannot draw out of them. As if any wise 
man will leave his house or grounds till he knows 
where to be better : or will forsake his staff that he 
leaneth on, or the food that he feedeth on, till he know 
where to have a better provision or support. Do they 
think wise men will be made irreligious ? They deal 
by the poor people, as one that should say to passen- 
gers on shipboard ; *• What fools are you to venture 
your lives in such a ship that hath so much incumb- 
rance and danger, and so many flaws, and but a few 
inches between you and death, and is guided by such 
a pilot as may betray you, or cast away your lives for 
aught you know ?" They know now that none but 
mad men will be persuaded by such words as those to 
leap into the sea to escape those dangers : and there- 
fore they do this but to make men willing to pass into^ 
their ship, and take them for their pilots. If you are 
wise therefore hold them to it, till they have shewed 
you a safer vessel and pilot. 

You may conjecture the quality of those jugglers, by 
their constant opposition against the ministry. It is 
ministers that are their eye-sore; the hinderers of their 
kingdom. Gould they but get down those, the day 
were their own. Therefore their main business, what* 
ever vizor they put on, is to bring the people into a 
dislike or contempt of the ministry. They will rail 
at them. 

26 



302 JESUIT 

The juggling Papists, what vizor soever tJiey wear, 
are commonly putting in the necessity of a judge of con- 
troversies, an infallible church, a state of perfection here, 
and the magnifying of our own inherent righteous- 
ness, without justification by the forgiveness of sin: 
and oppose the authority and sufficiency of Scripture; 
which they impugn, and lead men aside to another rule, 
the Papal traditions. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII, 

Jesuit ProselyUsm of mm of Wealth and Influence. 

Another of their practical frauds is; their exceed- 
ing industry for the perverting of men, of power and 
interest, that are likely to do much in helping or hin- 
dering the VI. 

I. Be not too confident of your own understandings 
to deal with such jugglers in your own strength, with- 
out assistance. They have made it their study all 
their days, and are purposely trained up to deceive: 
wh^eas you are much wanting in their way of study, 
and much unfurnished to resist, how highly soever 
you may think of yourselves. 

'^. Read learned solid writings against the Papists. 

3. Hearken not to Papists secretly, nor masked, nor 
coming to you by indirect and juggling ways: but 
open their persuasions, and call to some able studied 
divines to deal with them in your hearing, if needs you 
will hear them, that so you may hear one side as well 
as the other. 

4. Take heed, what retainers, servants, or familiars 
are about you. We fear not any thing that they can 
do in an open way, in comparison of their secret whis- 
pers and deceits, when there is no body to gainsay 
them. Had they the truth, we should be glad to en- 
tertain it with them. Let not all our peace and safety 
be hazarded by the self conceitedness, or imprudence 
of our rulers. Seeing it is you that must govern us 
or set the vulgar the pattern which they are so much 



ItJOOLlliG. 303 

addicted to imitate ; we adjure you in the name of the 
most High God, that you hearken not to seducers, and 
corrupt those intellects in which the whole nation hath 
so great an interest. We are willing to be as chari- 
table to that proud throne of Rome, and usurping 
Vice-Christ, as will stand with the safety of our souls 
and of the church. But God forbid that we should 
be so blind, as to run into their pest-house>, and drink 
the poison by which they are intoxicated. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Popish Perjury and Treason. 

The most desperate of their practical frauds is this- 
Their treasons against the lives of 'princes^ and the 
peace of nations, and their dissolving the bonds of oaths 
and covenants, and making perjury and rebellion 
duties and meritorious works. 

Horrid treason and tyrannical usurpation over all the 
Christian Princes caused England, Denmark, Sweden, 
and many other princes to shake off the Roman yoke. 
Kings are not fully kings where the Pope is fully 
Pope. 

I need not tell the many treacheries since the refor- 
motion against our princes : or who it was that would 
have deposed as well as excommunicated Clueen Eliz- 
abeth, and exposed her kingdoms to the will of others: 
or who were the actors of the hellish powder plot 
Do I need to mention their approving of the murdering 
of princes and the pretence of power to dispense with 
oaths of allegiance and fidelity, and who hath actually 
so oft pretended to expose princes and their dominions 
to the first occupant % Many in England disowned 
that doctrine : but the pope having owned and practis- 
ed it; by disowning it they disown popery itself It is 
an article of their faith; and essential to their religion: 
and is determined by a pope and the approved general 
council at Lateran under Pope Innocent III. 

Albineus the Jesuit heard the murderer of Henry 



304 iXflViT 

IV. confess before he did the fret, and mit off the exam* 
iners with this answer, that Grod had given him that 
special gift to forget when once he had absolved a sin- 
ner whatsoever was confessed by him. Why was it 
that France expelled the Jesuits and set up a pillar of 
remembrance of their villanies, till Henry lY. grati- 
fied the Pope by calling them in again, and told the 
Parliament the peril of it should be upon him : and 
so ft was; for it cost him his life. Why did the same 
Parliament of Paris, Novemb. 1610, condemn Bellar- 
min's book against Barclay, as an engine of treason and 
rebellion / And the Theological frculty of Paris, 
April 4. 1626, condemned Santarell's book as guilty 
of the same villany, stirring up people to rebellion and 
king-kiUing: which the university confirmed : while 
the Parliament condemned the book to be burnt. 

Rivet recites of the answers of the Jesuits in Paris, 
when the Parliament asked them their judgment of 
that book ; seeinir their general had approved the book, 
and judged the things £at are there written to be cer- 
tain, whether they were of the same mind ? They an- 
swered, that, " living at Rome he could not but approve 
what was there approved of" But say the Parliament; 
What think you ? say the Jesuits, '* the contrary." Say 
the examiners, but what would you do if you were at 
Rome ? Say the Jesuits, "that which they do who are 
at Rome." At which said some of the Parliament, 
have they one conscience at Rome, and another at 
Paris ? God deliver us from such confessors as those. 

But some of the Papists say that private men may 
not kill a king till he be deposed. Very true ! But it 
is their doctrine, that if once he be excommnnicated, 
he is then no king, or if he be an heretic ; and so 
being no king, they may kill the man, and not kill the 
king. Suarez advers. Sect. Anglic, lib. 6. cap. 4. 
Sect. 14. Cap. 6. Sect. 22, 24. Azorius Jesuita Instil 
Moral, part. 1. I. 8. c. 13. Mysterium Patrum Jesui' 
tarum. Jansenian^ s mystery of Jesuitism. Abbofs 
Antilogia ad Apolog. Eudamojohan. But what need 
we more than the decrees of a pope and general coun* 
cil, and the practice of the church of Rome for so many 
ages ? 



For the pope's power to absolve from all oaths of 
allegiance and fidelity, Pope Innocent HI. and his 
approved general council have told the world enough. 

The Papists have lately had the confidence to affirm 
that the powder plot and the Spanish invasion in 1588, 
were not a quarrel of religion, nor owned by the pope. 

Cardinal Ossatus in his 87. Epist. to Villeroy, tells 
us that Pope Clement VIII. pressed the King ol France 
to join with Spain in the invasion of England, and the 
cardinal answered that the king was tied by an oath 
to the Glueen of England : to which the pope replied, 
that "The oath was made to a heretic, but he was 
bound in another oath to God and the pope; that kings 
and other princes do permit themselves all things which 
make for their commodity; and that the matter is gone 
so far -that, that it is not imputed to them, or taken for 
their fault . and he alleged the saying of Francis Duke 
of Urbin, that indeed every one doth blame a noble- 
man, or great man that is no sovereign, if he keep 
not his covenants, or fidelity, and they account him in- 
famous ; but supreme princes may without any danger 
of their reputation, make covenants and break them, 
lie, betray, and perpetrate other such like things." 
That was Pope Clement VIII. Can we look for better 
from the rest ? 

Thuanus a moderate Papist and impartial historian^ 
tells, lib. 89. p. 248, 249, an. 1588. that, "the Spaniards 
pretended to undertake the expedition only for relig- 
ion's sake, and therefore took with them Alarco vicar 
general of the Holy Inquisition, with Capuchins and 
Jesuits : and that they had with them the Pope's Bull, 
which they were to publish as soon as they landed; 
and that cardinal Allan was appointed as the pope's 
legate, to land at the same time, and with lull power 
to see to the restoring of religion. That the said bull 
had these expressions. • The pope, by the power given 
from God by lawful succession of the catholic church, 
for the defection of Henry VIII. who forcibly sepa* 
rated himself and his people from the communion of 
Christians, which was promoted by Edward VI. and 
Elizabeth, who being pertinacious and impenitent in 
the same rebellion and usurpation — therefore the pope 

25* 



306 IMBVfB 

iDcited by the continual per8»a»ions of many, and by 
the suppliant prayers of the Englishmen themselves, 
hath deah with divers princes, and specially the most 
potent King of Spain — to depose that woman, and pun- 
ish her pernicious adherents in their kingdom.' 
That Pope Sixtus before proscribed the Queen, and 
took from her all her dignities, titles, and rights to the 
Kingdom of England and Ireland, absolving her sub- 
jects from the oath of fidelity and obedienee : he charg- 
eth all men on pain of the wrath of God, that they afford 
her no favor, help, or aid, but use all their strength 
to bring her to punishment ; and then that all the En- 
glish join with the Spaniards as soon as he is landed : 
offering rewards and pardon for sin, to them that will 
lay hands on the Queen ; and so shewing on what 
conditions he gave the Kingdom to Philip of Spain." 
Yet some of the jugglers that say they are no Papists, 
persuade the world that Papists hold not the deposing 
of princes, nor absolving their subjects from the oatbs 
of fidelity : and that the Spanish invasion was merely 
on civil accounts, and that they expected not any En- 
glish Papists to assist them. 

Dominicus Bannes in Thorn. 22. qu, 12. art. 2. saith, 
*' Quando adest evidens notitia, &c. when there is evi* 
dent knowledge of the crime, subjects may lawfully 
exempt themselves from the power of their princes, be- 
fore any declaratory sentence of a judge, so they have 
but strength to do it. Hence it follows that the niithful 
Papists of England and Saxony are to be excused, that 
do not free themselves from the power of their superi- 
ors, noj make war against them : because commonly 
they are not strong enough to manage those wars, and 
great dangers hang over them." You may see now 
how far the Papists are to be trusted : even as far as 
they are sufficiently disabled. 

August. Triumphus saith, de potest. Eccles. qu. 46. 
art. 2. '* Dubium nonest quin papa possit omnes reges, 
cvn subest causa rationabilis^ deponere : there is no 
doubt but the pope may depose all kings, when there 
is reasonable cause for it." Is not this a Vice-Christ, 
and a Vice-God ? 

Add Co this, that the pope is judge when the cause 



JUGGLING. 307 

is reasonable; for no doubt he must judge, if he must 
execute ; and then you have a pope in his universal 
sovereignty, spiritual and temporal. 

Suarez and others say; when the pope hath deposed 
a king, any man may kill him. Mariana directs to 
poison him or secretly despatch him ; de reg. instit 
lib, 1. cajp. 7. Suarez says; Defens. fid. Cathol. li, 6. 
c. 4. sect, 14. " Post s^ntentiam, &c. After sentence 
past he is altogether deprived of his. kingdom, so 
ihat he cannot by just title possess it ; therefore from 
thence forward he may be handled as a mere tyrant ; 
and consequently any private man may kill him." 

I conclude .with one testimony of a Roman Rabbi, 
cited by Usher, Epistol. J. R. l609, who hath excused 
the powder-plot from the imputation of cruelty, *' be- 
cause both seeds and root of an evil herb must be 
destroyed," and adds a derision of the simplicity of 
the king in imposing on them the oath of allegiance, 
in the most memorable expressions, worthy to be en- 
graven on a marble pillar. " Sed vide in tanta astutia^ 
quanta sit simplicitas ! &c. But see what simplicity 
here is in so great a craft ! When he had placed all 
his security in that oath ; he thought he had framed 
such a manner of oath, with so many circumstances, 
which no man could any way dissolve with a safe con- 
science. But he could not see, that if the pope dis- 
solved the oath, all its knots, whether of being faithful 
to the king or admitting no dispensation, are accor- 
dingly dissolved. I will say a thing even more admi- 
rable. You know I believe, that an unjust oath, if it be 
evidently known to be such, or openly declared such, 
obligeth no man. That the king^s oath is unjust, is 
sufficiently declared by the pastor of the church him- 
self You see now that the obligation of it is vanished 
into smoke, and that the bond which so many wise 
men thought was made of iron, is less than straw." 
These are the words of Papists themselves. 
Renounce your treacherous principles, and we will 
cease to charge you with them. Let a general coun- 
cil and pope but decree the contrary to what the fore- 
cited pope and general council have decreed ; or else 
do you all declare that you think that pope and coun- 



308 1B617IT 

cil erred, and then you will eitber cease to be true Pa- 
pists, or at least become tolerable members of human 
societies. Why doth not the pope himself coademn 
those doctrines, if really he disowns them ? 



CHAPTER XL. 

Popish Persecution and Slaughter. 

Their last course when all others fail, is, to turn 
from fraud to force, and open violence, stirring up 
princes to wars and bloodshed ; that they may destroy 
the professors of the reformed religon, as far as they 
are able, and do that by flames and sword, by halters 
and hatchets, which they cannot do by argumept. 
Hence have proceeded the bloody butcheries of the 
Waldenses and Albigenses, the wars in Bohemia, the 
league and wars and Massacres in France, the desola* 
ting wars of Germany, the plots, invasions and wars 
in England. Most oi the flames in Christendom have 
been kindled for the pope bv his agents, that he might 
warm him by that fire by wKich others are consumed. 
Hence his own pretences to the temporal sword, and 
so many volumes written to justify it, and so many 
tragedies acted in the execution. Yet these men cry 
up antiquity and tradition. What bishop in all the 
world for above three hundred years after Christ, did 
ever claim or exercise the temporal sword, as much as 
to be a justice of peace? It was their judgment that 
it did not belong to them. Neither the pope nor any 
bishop on earth, as such, hath any thing to do with the 
coercive power of the sword ; nor may not inflict the 
smallest penalty on body or purse, but only guide men 
by the word of God ; and the utmost penalty they can 
inflict is, to excommunicate them. They have nothing 
to do to destroy men, when they have excommunicated 
them, nor to cause the magistrate to do it : but rather 
should still endeavor their conversion. Synesius Epis- 
tol. 57. Why doth not the pope when ne hath past 
his excommunications, content himself that he hath 



JUOGLINO. 309 

done his part ; but he must excite princes, and force 
them to execute his rage, and fall upon the lives and 
dominions of such princes as he will call heretical 1 
He knows how small account would be made of his 
thunder-bdlts, if he had not a secular arm to follow them. 
If it were not for arms and violence, he would soon be 
cast out by the Christian world. 

The same doctrine also Bernard taught the pope 
himself, Ad Eugen. P. JR. de Considerat. I. 2. *'Quid 
tibi dimisU Apostolus ? &c. What did the holy apos- 
tle leave thee? Such as I have, saith he, that give I 
to thee : and what was that % One thing I am sure of; 
it was not gold, nor silver, when he said himself, sil- 
ver and gold have I none. It thou canst claim this 
by any other title, so let it be ; but not by apostolical 
right : for he could not give thee that which he had 
not : such as he had, he gave, a care of the churches, 
but did he give thee a domination ? Hear himself. Not 
as lords or ruling lords, saith he, in the heritage, but 
as examples of the flock. And lest thou think tnat he 
spoke it only in humility, and not in verity, it is the 
voice of the Lord himseli in the Gospel : the kings of 
the Gentiles rule over them, and they that ht^ve power 
over them, are called benefactors, but you shall not 
be so. It is plain that domination is forbidden the 
Apostles. Go thou therefore, and usurp if thou dar- 
est, either apostleship whilst thou rulest as a Lord ; or 
a Lordly domination, while thou ar t Apostolic. Plainly 
thou art forbidden one of the two : If thou wilt have 
both alike, thou losest both." Thus the pope and his 
bishops are deprived of both, by grasping at both long 
ago. 

The pope makes himself a temporal prince in every 
prince's dominion on earth, where he is able to do it, 
and takes all the clergy out of their government into 
his own. So that actually he hath dispossessed them 
of part of their dominion already, by taking so consid- 
erable a part of their subjects from under their power. 
If any believe not that the pope doth not thus exempt 
his clergy from the secular power, it is because he 
knows not their most notorious principles and practi* 
@?s. Even in England, in King Charles' articles for 



310 JESVIT 

the Spanish match, the pope had the confidence to de- 
mand that prerogative : and therefore himself added to 
the sixteanth ankle, which freed them from laws 
ahout religion, '' ecclesiastic persons shall be under no 
laic, but of tkeir superior ecclesiastic sV So that no 
church-man must be under any law of the land, ox 
government of secular princes. When they have 
such a strength in our own garrison, a foreign enemy 
is easily let in To the exciting of whom they will 
never be wanting, having their agents, in one garb ot 
other, at the ears of all the princes and states in Chris- 
tendom, and of most of the persons that are deeply 
interested in the government. With infidel princes 
sometimes, as Cyril the Patrick of Constantinople proved 
to the loss of his life, for being so much against the 
Papists. The more cause have all Christian princes 
ana states to be vigilant against those incendiaries ; 
because they trust to war and violence, and build their 
kingdom on it, and therefore study it day and night 
Because they have Jesuits all abroad continually upon 
the design : whose contrivances and endeavors are 
day and night to bring nations to their will, and to 
kindle divisions and wars among them to attain their 
ends. If the Papists can but deceive the rulers, they 
will give us leave to dispute, and write, and* preach 
against them, and laugh at us that will stand talking 
only, while they are working : and when the sword 
is in their hand, they will soon answer all our argu- 
ments, with a fagot, a hatchet, or halter. Smithfield 
confuted the Protestants, that both the universities 
could not confute. Their inquisition is a school where 
they dispute more advantageously than in academies. 
Though all the learned men in the world could not 
confute the poor Albigenses, Waldenses and Bohemi- 
ans, yet by those iron arguments they had men that 
presently stopped the mouths of hundred thousands of 
them : even as Mohammedans confute the Christians. 
A strappado is a knotty argument. In how few days, 
did they confute thirty thousand Huguenots in and 
about Paris, till th«y left them not a word to say? In 
how few weeks space did the ignorant Irish thus stop 
the mouths of two hundred thousand Protestants? Even 



JUGGLING 311 

in Ulster alone, about one hundred and fifty thousand 
men were mortally silenced. Alas! many of the poor 
Irish know little more of Christ, but that he is a better 
man than Saint Patrick. How long might they have 
been before they could have silenced so many Protes- 
tants any other way ? There is nothing like stone- 
dead with a Papist. They love not to tire themselves 
with disputes, when the business may be more success- 
ful dispatched. 

Seeing this is the way that they are resolved on, 
and no peaceable motions will serve for the preventing 
it, all men that have any care of the church and cause 
of Jesus Christ, and the happiness of their posterity, 
have cause to stand on their watch guard : Not to be 
cruel to them, but to be secured from their cruelty. 
Xet them have the rule, and then make the best you 
can of your arguments. If they can once get Protes- 
tant countries, into the case of Spain and Italy, their 
treachery shall not be cast in their teeth; for they will 
leave none alive and at liberty to do it. 

Therefore in the name of God be vigilant: and 
watch for the security of the church as those that must 
give account. Let all that love the Gospel, and the 
prosperity of the Christian world, and of their poster- 
ity, have their eyes in their heads, and take heed of 
that bloody hand, that hath already spilled so many 
streams of Christian blood. 

Some think that it is their safest way to please the 
pope and Jesuits, and so will be Papists on the same 
terms that some of the Indians worship the devil, be- 
cause he is so naught, that he may not hurt them. But 
those men were wiser, if they understood, that the ma- 
lice of infernal spirits is not to be avoided by pleasing 
them, but by resisting them. They are too bad to be 
ever pleased by any means, but what will be utter ruin. 
They are not stronger than the devil himself, who will 
fly if we resist him. If the best were not the most 
powerful, what would become of the world .^ If God 
be stronger than the devil, he should rather be pleased 
than the devil ; for he is able to defend you from the 
devil's displeasure: and he is most able to hurt you 
if you be despisers of his power ; which justice will 



312 ^ JB8UIT 

effect more certainly on the bad, than satan's malice 
can do upon the good. Men think themselves wise, 
that shift lor their safety by carnal and unlawful means : 
but they shall all find at last, that honesty is the best 
policy, and the favor of God the best security, a life of 
faith the most prudent life ; and that shifting for your- 
selves in unbelieving ways is the greatest folly. It is 
the design of the Papists to terrify, that none may dare 
to resist them, but may see that they have no hold of 
their lives while they are under their displeasure. Bat 
such as have most displeased them have escaped best. 
Henry IV. of France, being persuaded to stand out 
against the Jesuits, answered, " Give me th^n security 
for my life.'' The security he found in his unbelief 
was assassination. 

The Papists are fixed in their errors, and there is a 
necessity lieth on them never to change. The pope 
and a genend council have already decreed that the 
pope may depose Protestant princes, and absolve their 
subjects. To give up which abominable error is to 
cease to be Papists; so that all people must necessar- 
ily despair of their amendment. 



END 



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